Plucked Rose and Tarnished Gold
by Jaegrey
Summary: 'Ruby was gone, and Yang had no one to go to for help.' An AU stemming from before the end of season 3 of RWBY. Ruby had been targeted when somehow Ruby's tight-lipped secret that even she didn't know about got to Cinder. Yang struggles to find her sister as everyone distances themselves from her after her fight with Mercury in the tournament.
1. Chapter 1

_**This would be the first fanfic I write. Let's hope things turn out well enough. Very important to know that I do not own anything pertaining to RWBY. The first part is mostly an interpretation of the events in RWBY, with some exceptions, so some of the storyline in this bit belongs to RWBY. It's only to kick off the setting, so fear not!**_

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The Vytal Festival was finally at hand. After several rounds in the tournament, team RWBY had a secured a spot in the one on one matches. After a fair and honest vote, it was decided that Yang would be the one to represent their team. Ruby had expected her sister to crush the competition. And to be fair, she did just that and more. Her latest match with Mercury Black landed her pretty much under house-arrest in the dorm. Ruby couldn't believe her eyes as her sister beat on him while he was defenceless. She and her team may believe Yang when she says that she was innocent, but they might be the only ones who do. With guards positioned to ensure that she doesn't leave her room, she was cut off from anyone who might listen to her.

But Ruby wasn't one to lose hope and fall on her knees even when her sister was in such serious trouble. Besides, her friends were still in the competition. Pyrrha was still in the running to fight for team JNPR. With her team is disqualified, Ruby's next hope is for them to win.

After leaving Yang along with Blake and Weiss, Ruby made her way alone to the arena in hopes that her friend might have a match today. She found a seat at one end of the arena before the pairing was decided. But at the other end she squinted to see… Emerald? She was dumbfounded. Leaning forward in her seat, she made quite the unintentional face of shock as she stared towards the green-haired girl.

"Emerald's… here?" she asked herself. Her view was not unnoticed by Emerald, who shot daggers back to Ruby. Being the innocent, conflict-avoiding, socially-awkward girl she was, Ruby immediately averted her gaze and tried to pass it off as if she never saw her in the first place. But that only did so much. She got up from her seat and sped back into the halls leading to the tournament area, which were currently devoid of anybody. She slipped into what appeared to be a maintenance hall. Hopefully she could find someone and ask what the heck was going on. Mercury's whole team supposedly rushed back with him to be with his family. So what was Emerald, one of his team doing here at the tournament. With only questions in her mind, she bumps into the last person she thought she might see there.

As the randomization process is announced to begin, out from another hall steps Mercury, on two legs no less. With disbelief in her eyes, she calls to him:

"...Mercury?" The first person being called to battle was Penny, her secretly robot friend.

"What are you doing?" she further questions. The second contestant is called as Pyrrha, whose semblance is polarity. She goes wide-eyed at the realization of the potentially devastating lineup.

"Ooh, polarity versus metal. That could be _bad_ ," he mocks concern. Ruby was as worried now as she was confused. How did he know about Penny's secret.

"Mercury, what are you doing?" she asks again, lacking words to form more questions, "You were hurt! Why…-" she trailed off, suspicions rising. "What's going on?" she asked ultimately.

He says nothing. He shows no expression on his face. He pauses a moment to pull out his scroll and glance down at a message he got, narrowing his eyes as he reads its contents. Mercury looks up at Ruby after a few seconds now with a wide grin. Still he said no words.

"Fine," she gives in, "If you're not going to tell me…" again she trails off as she sidesteps to go around Mercury, but he just steps in front of her again. The two repeat this once or twice before Ruby's attention is drawn by the echo of the countdown. As her friends began their fight, so did Mercury. "Showtime," he readies himself for combat.

Ruby, however, didn't really want to fight. Instead, she wanted to rush past him using her semblance of speed to overwhelm him. At the attempt, though, she received a kick to the stomach blocking her and a combo blow knocking her back to the ground. She forgot that his weapon was in his shoes or something.

It was obvious now that he was an enemy, perhaps even behind the incident with Yang.

While still disadvantaged on the ground, unarmed, she pulls out her phone to call for backup, or maybe warn them of whatever conspiracy there might be. Before any call got through, her scroll was shot out of her hands with a fire of Mercury's weapon.

"Let's just keep this between us _friends_ ," again he mocked as he rushed towards her.

They exchanged blows - or more so did Mercury land his hits on Ruby, until she finally found an escape route and blurred away using her semblance.

She got out back to the halls to the arena only to witness one of her friends, Penny, _cut in half_ in some freak accident. She didn't see any blood, but that meant nothing seeing that Penny was artificial. Penny was amazing, Ruby knew that well, but even she couldn't survive this. Penny was gone.

Now, seeing her friend dead, and another friend guilty of being the cause of it, she fell to her knees and let her stored tears fall. Her senses all but shut off in response to the trauma. She didn't even notice Mercury stepping out behind her and standing over her with his usual smug grin. Though, she won't go so far as to say she didn't feel his blow knocking her out cold.

Within minutes, Grimm have overrun the grounds and panic overtook the bystanders. Blake and Weiss were together amongst a mess of combat drones and Grimm in battle. Blake called Yang, hopefully she was with Ruby.

"Yang! Are you okay?!" she asks as soon as the call gets through.

"I'm fine! Is Ruby with you? She isn't answering her scroll," she asked hysterically.

"No, she isn't," worry grew for their missing team member.

"Yang, I'm sure she's fine! She's our leader, she can take care of herself," she tried to convince Yang, maybe even herself. While it was true that Ruby could handle mobs of Grimm without breaking a sweat, she could do nothing against an enemy while unarmed. Unbeknownst to them, their team's leader had already been emotionally and physically knocked out.

Emerald had managed to slip away from the crowd unnoticed. The plan was to meet back with Mercury in one of the maintenance halls and wait for orders from Cinder. The White Fang should know not to invade that area, but she never could trust them with how much they hated people like her. When she turned a corner and passed the doorway to the meeting place, she was taken aback to see two people there instead of just one.

"Woah, hey, what's _she_ doing here?" she asked.

"There's been a slight change of plans," he began to inform her, "And by that I mean we're throwing most of it out the window."

"Hold on, when did you get any sort of order from Cinder?" she asked, since Cinder usually keeps her in the loop as well whenever there's a change of plans. He tosses his scroll her way and she snatches it out of the air. On it was a message telling him to forget about laying low and to go after a young huntress named Ruby Rose while everyone panics from the chaos. She places the scroll on a table that was in the room and looks down towards the unconscious girl lying at the side of the room, then back to Mercury.

"Well we've got her. What do we do with her now? We can't keep her here for long," Emerald goes on.

"We bring her to the ports. Neo should already be breaking Roman out and seizing the airship," he explains, "Board the ship and sail to safety. Simple." He picks Ruby up and carries her over his shoulder and starts to walk out of the room.

"Shouldn't we, I dunno, tie her up or something?" she asks before he's out of earshot.

"Nah, she's out cold. I knocked her pretty hard. Might even be dead for all I care," he shrugs and turns to Emerald only to meet a death glare, "Okay, okay. I hit her with half strength." She kept shooting daggers at him.

"A quarter?" he pleaded, "L-look she's fine, but we don't have time for this. The ship's landing soon."

"Alright, but what if someone sees us with her?" Emerald asks, giving in. Mercury turns his head her way and gave a cold grin with narrowed eyes. He didn't say anything, but his point got across. She followed him down the hall and further out into the chaos around them. The airship had landed at the port just as he said, but it was obvious they were in a rush. The ships carrying the White Fang weren't around. That must be part of the 'slight change of plans'. They boarded quickly and saw Roman standing before a terminal. Emerald went ahead to him and stood behind the glowing board.

"There's been a-"

"-Change in plans, yes, I know. Why else would you be here?" he retorted.

"Well you still look like you're having fun," Emerald noticed.

"I feel like a kid in a candy store. Seriously, this is _amazing_! You should try it. Ooh! This one's my favorite," he says, pushing it. The ship's weapons fired towards a brick building it was facing. He let out a childish laugh at the sight of its destruction.

"You're right, that is _quite fun_ ," she agreed, "but I think I got something for you that'll make your day."

"Oh-ho-ho, and what might that be?" he asked curiously. Emerald nodded her head behind him and he turned in response to see. Mercury was walking towards him with a girl in a red hood in tow. And there's only one person who wears a red hood that he can think of. The girl before him, Ruby Rose, was now stirring and beginning to open her eyes.

"Ngh… Yang what happened?" she must have thought she was with her sister. Her eyes flew wide to see the most wanted criminal standing in front of her.

"Why hello, Little Red. Have a nice nap?" he laughed, mocking her.

"Torchwick! So you were behind this?!" she accused as she got up and tried to lunge at him, only to be restrained by Mercury who she hadn't noticed was behind her.

"No need to be so harsh! I feel the name 'Roman' has a much nicer ring to it," he mocks, "but pleasantries aside, I need you to go back to sleep!"

His voice rose as he put his strength behind a punch into Ruby's abdomen. She fell limp from the full force of it. He walked back to the main room and yelled to the cockpit.

"Neo! What's taking so long? We're sitting here like a giant target saying 'Oh hey, we're the bad guys'! We gotta go!" he told Neo.

The ship rose into the air and shot through the sky as they made their getaway. Roman pulled out a cigar and put it up to his lips. Emerald flicked open his lighter - stealing it without him noticing never got old - and lit it for him. He sighed a puff of smoke and ordered them to cuff her arms _and_ legs with some cuffs they found near the cell Roman was kept in and locked her in there. He knew she could get away easily using her speed, so extra precautions were needed to keep her from getting away. He sat in the comfortable cockpit seats next to Neo and again sighed, closing his eyes as though he were exhausted. Neo gave him a concerned look.

"Relax, I didn't hit her as hard as it sounded," he reassured her after making sure the others wouldn't hear. She didn't seem to feel any better about it.

"If it's me you're worried about, I'm fine. I'm quite the actor, if I do say so myself," he jokes, "They still believe this little charade, so there's nothing to worry about. Acting like you're the bad guy… well, it just takes a lot outa you."

At this time, the other three members of team RWBY were just finishing off the last of the Grimm and hacked drones along with the other hunters and huntresses. It was some sort of miracle, really. Casualties had been low, considering the extreme threat level. The night had started to die down as repairs started being made and people started to fill the streets again. Yang hadn't settled down, though, and Weiss and Blake had been following her around just as worried. Ruby hadn't been able to meet up with them and they couldn't reach her scroll.

As the morning came, the three were exhausted. They hadn't slept very well knowing that their leader was still missing. Yang had been up all night trying to call Ruby or anyone who might know where she was. Her contacts were short, though, since very few people associated themselves with her after what the saw her do to Mercury. Ironwood again came to their dorm and questioned Yang if she had any involvement with the incident yesterday. After the questioning, he answered their questions. There was no trace of Ruby from the night before and she was still missing. Before he left, he informed Yang that she should be extra careful not to do anything to worsen everyone else's view of her. He went so far as to advise her to stay in her dorm for a while until things were sorted.

Ruby was gone, and Yang had no one to go to for help.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Excuse me for a moment to thank all those who took the time to read the things I write. I deeply appreciate the great response so quickly. I'll keep this short, so I'll leave it at that._**

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She hated this feeling. She felt like she was chained up and locked in a room too small to fit even half a person. The reality was just that. Ruby woke up once again in an unfamiliar room that was claustrophobically small. Her head was swimming and her memories were foggy. She closed her eyes and furrowed her brows in concentration. Where had she been? She tried raising her hand to comfort a sore pain she felt on the back of her head. Metal restraints jingled behind her and locked her wrists there. Then she remembered something. Roman Torchwick. That criminal managed to free himself in the commotion that night. She recalled being on the ground in front of him for some reason. The memory wasn't fully there, but she could tell she was in a pinch after that. The only thing she could think to do at the time was to slip her hands out. Her wrists were small so she thought she might just be able to squeeze her hands through. She curled her hand so that it might fit through and noisily struggled against the metal that kept her hands together. But before she managed to get results in her grand scheme, the door slid open to reveal one Roman Torchwick, gentleman criminal extraordinaire, the one she remembered stood over until her memory cut off.

"And what might you be up to? You don't thinking you can slip out of those, do you? Only thing you'll get from that is a dislocated wrist, and we wouldn't want any of that, now, would we?" his voice annoyed her as he used his 'holier-than-thou' tone.

"Torchwick! What do you want?" she barked at him.

"Now, now, was I not clear enough? I don't quite like the ring of that. Reminds me of my father," he said looking away with a disgusted look, then turned back to her, "Anyways, as much as you look _so_ comfortable there, it's time to move."

Roman rested his cane against the wall and slipped his gloves off of his hands. Ruby cringed in anticipation of another strike, but couldn't even raise her arms in defence. His intentions hadn't been so malicious. He had the key in his pocket and went to free her legs for her to walk. He couldn't maneuver his hands as well with thick gloves on so he stuffed them into the pockets on his coat. He honestly meant no harm to the captive girl. But she didn't know this, didn't trust him.

"Relax, Red. While it is tempting to punch your lights out, there's this thing called 'walking'. It's all the rage these day, everyone's doing it. Except babies. Oh, and a few other people. Poor souls, but it's _hilarious_ when they try," he laughed at the thought.

Ruby peeked an eye open and saw his lax stance. He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow as he waited for her to let down her guard. Once she did, she rose from her seated position in what she almost recognized to be a cell and put all her weight on her two feet. Her arms were still locked behind her, and her balance was wobbly because of that.

"You're evil!" she finally remarked.

"It's amazing you're only just finding this out," he sarcastically responded.

He waited a moment, half expecting her to say something to that. Ruby looked around cautiously and got a grip of her bearings. She appeared to be on an airship from the look of the metal walls and floor. Roman cleared his throat impatiently to get her attention. When she turned to look at him, he nodded his head in the direction down the hall, ordering her to get moving. She went to comply and picked up her foot. The result was her falling on her shoulder since her ankles were locked together as well. Ruby let out a yelp as she tripped. Roman laughed as she landed with a slight thud, not being able to catch herself.

"See? Hilarious," he laughed.

Ruby looked up and growled at him to try and sound her anger his way, but she only managed to sound like a small animal that was backed into a corner. He picked her up by the cuffs on her arms and put her on her feet. Having just realized that her legs were bound too, she assessed what few options she might have left. She could ask him to at least undo her ankles so she could walk, but knowing his sadistic ways, he might force her to beg, only to laugh at her. She could hop away, but that was stupid considering she wouldn't get anywhere. Crawling….. no. She tested her restraints in hope that one of them might be loose or weak. Her arms were behind her, so she couldn't see how strong the bond was, but it felt pretty secure. She then picked her foot up again and saw the strong link between the cuffs on her ankles. One tug on that proved that she was helpless against it, along with making her lose her balance once again. This time, however, Roman caught her by the waist, preventing her from falling.

"Really, Red, what _are_ you trying to accomplish?" he asked as he picked her up into his arms with one swoop and she again let out a small yelp. She struggled as much as she could in protest of his actions, but he only started walking down the hall.

"Woah! W-what are you doing?!" she freaked out.

"Oh, I'm sorry, would you prefer to be dragged there by the hood?" he asked rhetorically and she stopped fighting, "That's what I thought."

Her mind was racing. It wasn't every day that she was carried princess-style, much less by a guy, even less so by a wanted criminal. Her face flushed red for a moment in embarrassment, then turned white when she realized she had no idea where he was taking her or what he was going to do to her. She looked up and saw Roman seemingly lost in thought. He was no longer smiling as he was before, but instead looked upset, almost sad. She couldn't help but wonder what made him look this way. Her gaze was not unnoticed, though. She wasn't really good at concealing her curious stare. He glanced down at her to see her watching him and he resumed an angrier-looking expression. Ruby, on the other hand, wore a confused yet worried expression. But this was interrupted when Roman suddenly stopped walking at a pair of metal doors.

They slid open after a moment and gave way into a dark, empty room. There wasn't even a table or chair set up there. For a moment Ruby thought that Roman had brought her to the wrong room until he continued into the room, girl still in his arms. He moved to the end of the room and stopped again. Without warning, he dropped her legs onto the ground and let go of her almost too soon for her to get her footing.

She was on her feet again now. She looked around the room. The walls were a barren gray color. The floors were the same. The ceiling had a few lights, though they were all dim. The room was big enough to be maybe a meeting room or something. The only notable thing in the room was the door leading out into the hall again. Two figures walked through that door just then. One was a girl around her age, maybe a few years older clad in red. The other was a guy who also looked older than Ruby. She recognized the two as students from Beacon. They were Cinder and Mercury. Her memories cleared up somewhat and she remembered her encounter with Mercury at the tournament. She couldn't remember why they were fighting, or what happened after that, but he was definitely there.

"Guys, what's going on? What's happening?" she trustingly asked her classmates. She didn't get any response from them. Instead, she felt Roman behind her roughly forcing her down by the shoulders until she landed on her knees. She looked back at him and they locked eyes. Almost immediately he looked away from her, averting to looking towards the floor beside him. Again, he looked almost sad, regretful even.

Mercury stopped and leaned next to the door while Cinder continued towards Ruby. She spread a grin across her face just as a wolf bares its fangs at its prey. With elegance in her stride, she got ever closer to her captive. Each click of her heels resonated throughout the room and made each second feel like minutes to Ruby and Roman alike. She pulled out a long white glove and slid it over her left hand. Her fingers curled into a fist as it fit comfortably. With fire in her eyes, she looked over Ruby, who was still restrained and forced to kneel before her. Such a feeling of dominance was akin to bliss for Cinder, and with what was coming next, she almost couldn't contain her laughter.

Ruby had many questions she wanted to ask. What was going on? Why was she there? Where was she? She really had more questions than answers at that point. But something was stopping her from speaking. Some strange sensation drained her strength. As Cinder brought her palm before Ruby's head, this feeling grew stronger. Her head was spinning and she was dizzy. She no longer could think straight, let alone ask questions. Nothing she had ever felt compared to this… emptiness... she felt as Cinder's hand got ever so close to her. She had tried to fight it, but she could do nothing as Roman held tight onto her. His fingers pressed onto her harder than he may have realized. Anticipation grew over everyone present as she held her arm there, waiting. Time stretched itself as it seemed to wait as well. The little Rose breathed heavy and closed her eyes as hard as she could in an attempt to suppress this force that is overcoming her. But to no avail. It felt as though this dizziness and emptiness would swallow Ruby into nothingness. Then it stopped.

Cinder let her arm fall to her side as she frowned in annoyance. Once she did, the force that seemed to engulf Ruby in suffering disappeared. She collapsed from both exhaustion and relief from this experience, one she hopes she will never have to relive. Mercury stood up as Cinder started walking back.

"What happened? It didn't work?" he asked.

"She is… immature," Cinder answered, "She has yet to awaken and assume such immense power."

"But how do you know she isn't just an ordinary scythe-wielding girl… not that that's normal, though," he jokes.

"You've seen those eyes she has as well as those documents the general so kindly allowed for us to obtain. Besides," she continued, "she certainly seemed to react accordingly."

"And what do you want me to do with this 'immature, scythe-wielding girl' we have here? We can't keep her on the airship," Roman interrupted while air-quoting.

"I'll leave that up to you," she responded as she walked out the doors, followed by Mercury. Roman was left there alone with Ruby, who was now unconscious yet again. The first thing he did was finally unlock the cuffs that were keeping her hands and feet bound. He sent a message to Neo telling her they needed to land the airship, then picked her up as gently as he could, as though she were asleep. Carrying her just like he did bringing her in, he made his way to the main room of the airship, past the cell where she had woken up. Soon enough, they were on the ground. He carried her into one of several buildings surrounded by trees, and took an elevator down below the surface. It took no time at all to get to his destination, since Roman knew the layout of the building like the back of his hand. He brought her to one of the unused personal rooms and let her down on a bed. He still had to be cautious with her, so he tied her arm to the headboard of the bed with some rope he found along the way. He still left her legs and one of her arms free. After he was sure the knot was secure, he found himself sitting on the edge of the bed she was resting on. He felt many things when he saw her calmly laying there, not excluding regret or remorse. He brushed her hair out of her face and left the room, leaving Ruby alone in yet another unfamiliar environment. But he knew she was safe, at least for a bit.


	3. Chapter 3

Yang was done passively waiting around. Impatience replaced boredom as the hours rolled by. There were plenty of ways to kill time in the room, but most of that required more than one person. Blake had holed up somewhere else and again wasn't eating or sleeping much. Weiss was out more often than not, supposedly searching for Ruby by throwing around her family name. She grew tired of waiting and thought to sneak out and search for her sister as well, or at least clues as to where she went. She couldn't stomach the idea that her sister was… No, there was no way. Ruby was out there. She just had to be found. But the two guards outside her door wouldn't let her leave so easily. They kept a close eye on her, and when they occasionally let her leave the dorm, one of them always accompanied her. And they probably wouldn't like her snooping around. She would have to find a way past them without being noticed. Once she was out, they wouldn't know for some time, since Yang didn't often interact with them. But how would she get by them if they were constantly stationed literally outside her door.

And, speak of the devil, they knocked for her. It was most likely Ironwood coming again for whatever reason he may have, it didn't matter to her. It had only been a few days, three at most, but he had come in just as many times. Yang hadn't been counting the days or even keeping track of what time it was, since every second dragged and minutes felt like hours while knowing her baby sister was out there alone. Speaking in circles with Ironwood would do nothing to find her sister, and she wasn't looking forward to dealing with him. She ignored the knocking at her door, but it opened anyways.

"Hello, Miss Xiao Long," came a voice that wasn't Ironwood's. Yang turned to see Ozpin standing in the room. The guards required the door to be left open so they could listen in on their conversation.

"Ozpin? What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Well of course I came to celebrate your birthday, although I'm afraid I can't spare much time," he explains.

"But it's not-" she tried to explain that there were still a few months until then, but was cut off. He raised his hand slightly to gesture for her silence.

"I know the situation may be bad, but that's no excuse to ignore the day you were born," his words sounded compassionate and upbeat, but his face looked grave, "I'll keep this brief and leave this for you." He placed a small box tied closed with a ribbon in her hands.

"Uh, thanks, I guess. But the only thing I want is to know where my sister is," she awkwardly thanked him for the unexpected gift.

"Well I suppose you have a right to know at least something, being her family," he glanced behind to the guards in front of the door. They hadn't shown much interest in the matter, and he continued.

"With what we have, or should I say what we don't have, we can't ascertain that she is alive," Yang gave a look of sorrow and lowered her head. Reality hadn't hit her fully yet, otherwise she wouldn't be able to function at all.

"What have you found?" she asked almost hesitantly.

"Well, in truth, we found nothing. No signs of resistance, not even surveillance recordings spotting her, nothing," he explained.

"That's impossible! Ruby would never go down without a fight!" Yang claimed.

"And thus we cannot claim with certainty that she is deceased either," his voice raise somewhat when he mentioned that she may still be alive out there, as if to emphasize the thought. The grave look he gave off faded as well. Perhaps this was his way of motivating her to hang on to whatever hope she had left. Yang responded with a hopeful smile.

"Now, isn't it time to open your gift?" he asked rhetorically. She pulled loose the ribbon and slid the cover off. Inside was a key that she recognized as the one for her motorcycle, the one that had been confiscated after her match with Mercury. There was also a small slip of paper tucked under it. On it was scribbled two times, one being 12:30, the other 3:30. It didn't take much imagination to come up with a reason for this. His intentions were clear, as she looked up and got a warm, comforting smile from him. She now had the means and the time to go out and search for her sister. She didn't know why he did this for her, but she was happy nonetheless.

"Thank you, sir. This really means alot to me," she thanked him genuinely.

"But of course, Miss Xiao Long. Stay strong," he advised her as he turned to leave.

The day flew by after that. Night came quickly as she planned out where to look for Ruby. She looked at the clock, just past midnight it said. Pretty soon she could slip out into town. She pocketed a picture of her sister and tied her boots on in preparation to head out. Making as little noise as possible, she lightly stepped her way to the door, pausing a moment at any sign that the floor may creak. Her head neared the wood to allow her to see through the lens in the door. It didn't allow her to see much, but in the dim light of the hallway, she could tell that no one was present. Still staying as quiet as possible, Yang turned the handle and swung the door open. She knew she could trust the times Ozpin gave her. Assuming the second was as accurate as the first, she had about three hours to search for Ruby. She got down to the streets and started the engine to her beloved motorcycle. The purr of the engine comforted her some, and it never felt so comfortable to be on it than when she climbed on. She took off down the roads before she could remember to find her helmet, but she wouldn't need it. Besides, she liked the wind blowing through her hair.

The first few places she tried were Ruby's favorite stores and such. The owners would definitely recognize Ruby as one of their regulars, and there was a chance they might have seen her recently. But, contrary to Yang's hopes, they hadn't seen her around there after the sisters were separated. She generalized her search, and after an hour she was even asking anyone she could find if they had seen the girl in that picture, her sister Ruby. She grew more and more dismal as she asked more and more people, each replying in the negative. Two hours had passed by and she no longer had any destination to look for her sister. At least nowhere Ruby might be by choice. The thought that she might not even be alive caused a physical pain in her chest as it felt that she, herself, died a bit inside at the thought of losing her precious baby sister. She became desperate. She tried to reason with herself that she was just somewhere against her will, but even that was horrible at best.

In a fit of desperation, she went to a place that wasn't likely to have housed any Ruby Rose, and Yang knew that. But it was one of the few places that may have something to do with her disappearance. Her hopes had faded even though she still tried to believe that her sister was alright. Her expression grew as dismal as she felt as she sped down the road. She approached a club that blaired loud music and bright flashing lights. She walked up to the doors which slid open when she got close. Through the doors was the main part of the club building. Crowds of people danced to excessively loud music that she almost couldn't differentiate from just noise. She picked up her feet and walked in the large, open room with purpose. Standing before the dance floor was a line of men, each in some uniform that featured dark colors and a signature hat and glasses. No doubt, they were Junior's men. They armed themselves and aimed her way threateningly. But Yang didn't stop. The line parted as Junior himself came out armed with his own personal weapon in the form of a bat. He did not look pleased to see her and stood in her path while trying to look intimidating. Yang's eyes went red as she stormed towards Junior and his men.

"What are you doing here, Blondie? I've already had enough of you to last-" he stopped himself short when she stormed right past him, not even acknowledging that he tried to stop her. She turned her head frantically left to right, scanning the whole place for the red of her sister's hood. She found nothing, just as the reasonable part of her told herself. The red flickered out of her eyes and she stood there with her mind blank from the emotional devastation she got from once again not finding her missing baby sister. Junior, somewhat annoyed at being ignored, went to her and turned her by the shoulder to face him. But he wasn't expecting to see her in such a sad state. He was almost taken aback by her. Yang held back tears as she tried to look tough before him. Junior stood tall over her, but she still tried to intimidate him as if it were the only thing she could do to find her sister. She grabbed his shirt and pulled out the picture she had of Ruby. He noticed how pitifully weak her grasp of him was, and he lowered his torso down to her level in pity from the strengthless tug she gave his shirt.

"Tell me you've seen this girl," she demanded or pleaded, it could have been either.

"...Friend of yours?" he asked after studying the photo, "Never seen her."

Yang let go of him when she heard his answer. Her arms dropped to her sides as the last of the strength she got from her anger dissipated. By this time, his men had set their sights on her and were ready to let loose in response to her actions. Yang, on the other hand, didn't ready herself to combat them at all if they came at her. Instead, her head drooped and she walked away from him towards the bar. Still she held back tears. She wouldn't allow herself to show this weakness to her opponents. But she was physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. She took a seat on one of the stools and slumped over the counter. This chance Ozpin had given her to find Ruby had been wasted without turning up any results. Maybe she really was…. gone. At that thought, Yang couldn't stop the tears any longer. She pressed her face down into her arms on the counter and let out a few sobs.

Junior didn't exactly know how to respond to this. There he was a moment ago trying to knock her lights out, but now part of him wants to comfort the crying girl before him. He saw his goons still hostile towards her, but he got the impression that she wasn't going to lash out. He waved them away and they dispersed albeit with a few questioning, confused looks. He stepped behind the counter and thought about this turn of events. Why was she so upset, and what brought her here of all places? Whatever the reason may be, it must have had something to do with that girl she asked him about. The girl in the picture looked young, maybe around her age, so it could have been a close friend. From what he could tell, something bad had happened to her and Blondie here was looking for info about it. Vague as this was, it was all Junior could figure out about why she was like this.

Junior had never been much of a lady's man, so he did what he does best in order to stop her from crying all over his counter, not to mention all the attention was coming that way because of it. He filled a small glass with the lightest, least alcoholic drink he had and dropped some rocks of ice in. In the classic bartender style, he slid it down the countertop to her and it lightly tapped her arm. The chill of the glass against surprised her. She peeked her eyes up from her arms at its source and then at the man who gave it to her. He was casually acting as a bartender does, cleaning a glass while leaning against the back wall. He looked at her as well and nodded to the drink. Yang looked at him as if to ask what it was.

"That's the least alcoholic thing I have," he answered as if he expected her to ask.

"I'm seventeen, I can't have this," she explained.

"Hey, one drink ain't gonna kill you. Besides, you look like you need it," he remarked.

She didn't know whether she should drink or not. For all she knew, there was something slipped in it. There was also the fact that she was underaged, but the sorry state she was in didn't consider that too much. Part of her felt that it may help. She curled her fingers around the small glass and picked it up. Junior saw her do this and poured himself a drink as well. His was far stronger than hers, but he was drinking more as a formality than for pleasure. He raised it to his lips and tipped his head back in one motion. Maybe he was trying to show her that there was no harm in it. Yang raised it up to her lips as well. She picked out the distinct smell of alcohol, but it wasn't unpleasant. She took a small sip as opposed to his downing it in one gulp. It tingled a bit as it went down, and some of the pain in her chest eased off some. It wasn't all gone, but it did put her at ease a bit. She took another sip and placed it down on the counter, half empty, since she knew that she really shouldn't have touched it. But she was no longer in tears about her missing sister. Maybe it did help after all.

"So. What's got you so upset?" he decided to address the main question. Yang only glared daggers back at him, "Hey, I'm just asking cuz maybe ol' Junior can lend a hand. I don't want to brag, but people say I know everything."

"But you don't know where my sister is," she let that slip. He paused a moment before picking up the conversation.

"So that's what it is," he said. Yang figured she might as well let it loose. Maybe it might help her calm down from all this stress. And, who knows, maybe Junior can tell her a thing or two. She grabbed the glass and downed the remaining sip of her drink before she spoke.

"Ever since that night with the Grimm, she's been missing. I've already looked everywhere but no one has even seen her," she explains.

"And you can't believe that she's-"

"There's no way she's dead!" Yang yelled as she slammed her fist onto the counter, cutting him off. The two stopped talking until the silence was broken by a haughty voice.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in," a guy said in a mocking tone, "Bet your sister would love to see this. She's gone missing and you're out drinking in a club!"

When Yang turned her head his way, her eyes blinked red and went wide in shock and anger. There stood Mercury. Yang stood up from the stool so suddenly that it fell over. She armed her Ember Celica and stood combat ready. Mercury spread a smirk across his face at the sight of Yang burning with anger. Yang cracked her knuckles before she launched at him with the intent to kill.


	4. Chapter 4

"What's in there?" Came a voice behind Roman as he fumbled for the keys to the sturdily locked door.

"I believe _that_ would be classified as a 'female'," he sarcastically answered.

"You mean a girl? Wait, so you actually-"

"Before you get any ideas, Perry, think for a moment - I know it's hard - about the word 'hostage' as well," Roman cut him off. The White Fang goon named Perry looked away as he was about to ask something way off the mark. Good thing Roman stopped him.

"Since when are _you_ taking hostages?" Perry asked.

"Ask anyone else and you'd be putting your nose where it doesn't belong, pun intended. And if you ask me, you're better off not knowing a thing. But if you must know, well, I'd like to believe I'm broadening my horizons," again he avoided a full answer.

By this time, he had managed to stick the key in the lock and turn, and a click was heard. He turned the knob and swung the door inward into the old, dim room. The floor creaked as he stepped in. Perry had followed him in there for whatever reason he might have. Roman turned and looked his way as he stood in the doorway.

"Oh, I was under the impression that you had something better to do," Roman slyly. He crossed his arm as the faunus goon opened his mouth as if to explain that there were no orders. He closed it suddenly after but a moment when he caught on with how Roman was shooing him away in his own "polite" way.

"O-oh, that's right. I… uh… yes," it was painfully obvious that he was simply saying what Roman wanted to hear. He left without another word to appease his better.

As the door whipped shut, Roman shifted his attention to the girl still lying on the bed at the other end of the room. It had been maybe three days now, yet she still hasn't come to. He began to worry that something was horribly wrong. What if she wouldn't wake up at all? That Amber girl hasn't woken up yet and it's been quite a while since that incident. But Cinder didn't get anything off of Red, so she'll be fine, right? He tried to convince himself so. But she had barely moved an inch since he put her there. At first glance, it was hard to tell if she was even alive. He went right up to her beside the bed, but still she looked lifeless. Surely she would wake up soon, though; it was only a matter of time. He looked at her graceful form laying there, then laid his eyes upon her wrist bound by rope to part of the bed. It was a good idea at the time, sure, and it probably convinced anyone else that he didn't care for her comfort like a cold-hearted villain. But he would feel guilty if she woke up and completely lost use of her hand. He reached over to unbind her.

The air was cold around her, or so she would think if she could feel it. She felt like she was suffocating. Her eyes refused to open for what seems to have been an eternity until now. When she looked around her, there was only a black void to be seen. A deep, dark nothingness wrapped itself around her and left her paralyzed, seemingly floating in a sea of emptiness. Yet somehow her head felt clear, enough so for her to collect her thoughts and hopefully remember. And then all at once, it came back to her. Everything she struggled to recall now filled her mind as she projected herself into each memory. Her heart broke again as her sister's did after the rest of the team doubted her claims to innocence. She felt anxious as she waited for the next tournament and found the same surprise at seeing Emerald there. The pain from Mercury's boots sank back to her body as she again lived through their encounter. And the worst hit her harder than anything: turning the corner to see her friend literally in pieces at the hand of another friend. The rest seemed insignificant after that, though. Being brought in front of Roman and later being carried to that horrible room only tingled at her heart as she couldn't feel anything else after experiencing such grief. Still, no tears could fall from her eyes and no sob escaped her. This helplessness only magnified the suffocation she felt there. She closed her eyes as hard as she could in desperation.

As if in response, she felt a warm, comforting hand rest itself on her head. Part of her immediately assumed it to be Yang, since she cared extensively (and excessively) about her baby sister. But all too soon, that kind hand made its way down to her neck and the suffocating sensation came back to her. She strained to bring her arms up to stop this person from causing her this suffering. They made contact with the solid form of an arm. Then, in one blinding moment, her eyes squinted open to meet light and she felt her lungs fill with air.

When he finished loosening the rope, he dropped it behind the frame to the ground. He placed her arm across her stomach, a much more comfortable position. Now the only thing was for her to wake up. He didn't like waiting, but he was actually quite the patient guy, although you'd never catch him admitting that. He took a seat in a chair he pulled up next to the bed. There was nothing to do for now, so why not mess around on his personal scroll, maybe call up some friends of his. He laughed at his own thought of this: he had none to call. The criminal profession tends to isolate one from others.

Roman tucked his scroll back into his pocket after sorting through some old messages regarding work. He sank into the seat and pulled out a cigar. Midway to bringing it to his mouth, he paused and watched the girl. For some reason, just the sight of her stomach rising and falling with her breathing put him at ease. He stowed the cigar away and rubbed his eyes. Guilt and anxiety over her situation and condition riddled over him and didn't allow for much rest or relaxation, and now he felt exhaustion setting in finally.

A cough echoed through the room and Roman jumped at the sudden noise. Ruby let out a series of smaller coughs and tilted her head back as she lay there. She looked as though she was in pain, and it shattered Roman's temporary peace with himself. He stood from the chair over her and observed. Her breathing was heavy and her eyes were closed hard as if staring at the sun. His first reaction was panic, but he knew from experience in grave situations that panicking would get him nowhere. What could be causing this? He took off his glove and placed his hand on her forehead. There was no doubt that she was burning up. But then all too suddenly, she stopped moving and her body went almost limp.

"H-hey, c'mon now, Red. What's going on?" He asked quietly, as if asking only himself.

His mind flicked through possibilities. Of course, though, he settled on believing the worst possible outcome. Some may call it pessimism, but it got him far when he had to improvise. The worst thing he could think happened to her is that the fever was lethal. It would explain why she stopped wriggling in discomfort or pain. He honestly believed the chance that she died right before him. But he banked his hopes in optimism that she was okay, and checked for a pulse. He lightly pressed two fingers against her neck and sensed the beating rhythm of her heart. It was strong and quick, meaning that she was still alive, but still under the stress of whatever was ailing her.

Within the second of relief he got, she slowly reached her arms up to grab his arm. Her heavy breathing returned as he saw her open her eyes ever so slightly. Her grip on him was weak. Whatever she was going through, it took a toll on her strength and also her mind as she spoke.

"Wh-... who's…. Yang? Where…. Where's Yang?" Her head was spinning and again she was dizzy. Ruby had told herself that she was at home with Yang, just as people are with the ones they love in their dreams. Her throat was dry and she was having trouble catching her breath.

"Shhh," the person beside her hushed back at her. It wasn't Yang. She opened her eyes enough to see the masculine figure there.

"Wha-... R-Roman?" She asked between breaths to confirm that she recognized the figure as Roman Torchwick. Out of anyone it could have been, why was he the one there? Perhaps he was the one causing the suffocating feeling she had. He even had his hand on her neck. He truly was an evil person. But she desired his company nonetheless, especially after waking from that horrible, lonely void. But all too soon, he pulled his arm away and walked from the bed. She didn't have the strength to hold him there, or even to hold her arms up anymore. They fell to her sides and she felt exhaustion from what felt like the past eternity coupled with the relief from it. She closed her eyes and her breathing slowed down a bit. She could hear his voice faintly, but she couldn't recognize the words he said.

"Perry, hey, I need a favor…... No, you don't have a choice….. I need water, like an entire bucket full…. Why?... Would you believe me if I say I'm _really_ thirsty?" He hung up before Perry had a chance to answer. He had tried to hide his concern with sarcasm, but maybe he let it slip some.

Within the minute, the faithful goon brought literally a bucket of water. Roman thanked him and walked back into the room, leaving the door open. Perry hesitated before following him in there in hopes that he could help more. Roman carried it and placed it on a table against a wall. He took a mug he left there from the morning and tilted it to see its contents. He got some coffee as a pick-me-up then, but now the bit that's left is cold and stagnant. He grimaced, then downed it to empty up the cup. He then filled it with water and brought it to Ruby. With one arm he picked her head up enough for her to drink and with the other, he slowly tipped it against her lips. She needily drank, and after another cough, her breathing calmed down. Roman looked back towards Perry.

"I don't suppose you have some sort of cloth or something on you?" He requested.

"Would a handkerchief work?" Perry responded.

"Who these days still keeps a-" Roman stopped himself, "That'll do, thanks."

Roman soaked it in the water and squeezed it to release some of it. The best he could think of doing for her is to treat her fever. He rested the damp cloth on her forehead.

"So what's going on, Roman," Perry spoke up.

"Well this little brat decided to be sick, and I wouldn't want her dying on me so soon," he answered.

"I don't think you can 'decide' to be sick…" Perry corrected him.

"Sarcasm, Perry, sarcasm. But anyways, she'll need more than that. Got any spare sheets or something to throw over her? It's pretty bad."

He nodded and left again. Meanwhile Roman sighed and put his palm against his face. Not the best way to spend a day. He didn't have a watch on him or know what time it was, but these recent events definitely cut into the day, and he wasn't done yet.

Ruby was also beginning to feel wary of details. She was still weak and tired, but she still tried to at least sit up. The sound of her struggling to get up alerted Roman, who turned and walked back to her. Before he got there, she pushed off on her dominant right hand to prop herself up, but a shooting pain ran from the weight she put on it. She leaned forward holding her wrist in her other hand. A wet cloth fell from her head onto her lap.

"Go back to bed, Sleeping Beauty," he ordered.

"Why should I listen to you?" Her voice seemed to have returned, but her throat was still scratchy.

"Look, Red, I'm asking nicely. I don't need you getting any sicker than you already are," he said as he pushed her back down with ease since she had no strength to resist.

"I don't get sick, Torchwick," she retorted.

"Could've fooled me," he laughed. He replaced the wet handkerchief to her forehead. She still struggled, refusing to conform to his demands.

"If you want to be difficult, I could always tie your hands to the bedposts again," he threatened. She cringed at the thought of her being completely powerless yet again.

Roman held a mug out for her. She held it between her hands and inspected it for any signs of tampering. She still couldn't really trust him.

"Oh, come on, Red. I wouldn't call myself a professional if I resorted to cheap tricks like that," he assured her, "but if you don't want it…"

She drank against her better judgement so he wouldn't take it away. For all she knew, that was all she was getting. Roman Torchwick was a cruel, evil criminal. Even worse, he was unpredictable. Now she was being kept with him as what she assumes to be a prisoner or hostage. How could this be any worse for her? When she finished with the mug, he took it without a word from her. There came a knock on the door and Roman opened it to see one of the White Fang. That's how it could be worse: the whole place would be crawling with them. The guy at the door handed him a big, folded up sheet or blanket. He brought them over to her and spread them over her. She was considerably warmer, and only then did she realize just how cold she had been. Maybe Roman was right about her being sick. She was freezing, her head was spinning and hurting, and she had almost no strength at all. The only thing she could do was comply and rest. And upon closing her eyes, they became so heavy that they wouldn't open again. She fell asleep almost immediately, but instead of floating in a void, she dreamt.

Roman had sent Perry off after thanking him again. He closed the door and pulled out his scroll which indicated an incoming message from Neo.

 _How're you holding up with Little Red? She's not giving you too much trouble, is she? -N_

 _Since when is babysitting in my contract? -R_

 _Just admit you don't hate it. -N_

 _She got sick. -R_

 _And guess who had to nurse her back. -R_

 _Shoot, how's she holding up? -N_

Roman glanced behind him at Ruby, who was sound asleep.

 _Sleeping… for now. -R_

 _Nanny Roman saves the day! :P -N_

 _How about you? You haven't been sleeping lately. -N_

 _Well aren't you observant. I'm fine. -R_

 _Does anyone know yet? -N_

 _Maybe Perry, but there'll be an easy solution if push comes to shove. -R_

 _I'll talk to him. -N_

 _Say, while you're at it, ask him if he cooks. -R_

 _Hey, I can cook! -N_

 _No, you can burn. -R_

 _…. -N_


	5. Chapter 5

The crowds dispersed from the club as the two of them tried to exchange blows. Yang had started by rushing him, propelling herself towards him by letting loose one of her shots behind her, successfully knocking down several of Junior's bottles and scattering the stools. She pulled her arm back to ready a punch to be served straight to his face. Within a blink, the shock rippled out and after the explosion flashed out, she saw her strength blocked by his equally matched kick deflecting it. Both jumped back, and immediately kicked off again at the other. It was almost uncanny how the two were so equally matched. Mercury had been on the defensive as Yang tried to pound away at him. His agility allowed him to dodge every swing with ease, yet he made a point to block instead. Yang had blown through her clip of ammo and jumped back to reload Ember Celica. Switching to offensive, Mercury launched up and flipped into the air, then drove his heel down with all his strength. She had managed to move out of the way in time, but the result left a cracked crater in the dance floor. Still she had no more shots left, and he kept at her. She had no way to attack him, and at the same time had no way to defend herself. If she had saved a few rounds, she could have blocked just as Mercury has.

As soon as he landed his feet again, she bolted for distance to be put between them. She threw on another two sleeves of ammunition when she was satisfied with how much time she would have in opportunity. But Mercury was too fast for her to come out unscathed. He landed a kick straight onto one of her gauntlets, knocking one of them off of her left arm. He could have just as easily knocked _her_ off instead, but he's seen how she gets stronger with damage. The best bet would be to disarm her, or incapacitate her entirely.

Junior could only look on and watch as his establishment was torn up by their fight. The floor was cracked, tables were smashed, his liquor was in a puddle behind him. There were normally noise complaints anyways, but with the crowd of people running amok as they escaped the ruin of their little squabble, the booming sounds that would be heard couldn't be passed off as music. Pretty soon the authorities would arrive, and that could only go so well. He bowed his head and raised his palm to his face as the two further wrecked his place. He knew he was powerless to stop them from bringing the whole place down, and reasoning with them was out of the question. Mercury, being as manipulative as he is, has played Junior before. He wasn't going to make that mistake again. After one more crash, though, the noise stopped all too soon. He looked up and saw that Mercury had fired a shot before Yang, threatening her without words that she was cornered. Mercury relaxed his stance some, but Yang kept standing ready.

"Alright, Blondie. How's about a little chat?" He offered.

"Why would I want to talk to you?" She angrily asked. He flashed a smile her way before answering.

"It's not everyday you get to talk to someone as awesome as me," he bragged, presenting himself proudly.

"Actually, yeah, every day. It's kind of annoying, really," She wasn't even lying. Yang thought back to when Neptune and Sun said the same thing. Mercury coughed and cleared his throat.

"I-It's not every day that you get to talk to someone who's got inside info on your sister," he said, changing his words only slightly to sway her decision.

"You know where Ruby is?!" She yelled, entirely disregarding the fact that they were just at each other's throats, "Tell me where she is!"

"Now, now, sweet cheeks, let's not rush things. We got all morning, right?" He mocked her again.

"Tell. Me. Where. My. Sister. Is. NOW!" She exploded as her eyes flickered red.

"Alright, alright. Let's be civil about this," he negotiated.

"You guys _kidnapped_ my baby sister! There's nothing civil about it!"

"Hey, who said _I_ had anything to do with it?" Mercury wanted partially to taunt her further, something about _'the look on her face when-'_ or something to set her off for his amusement, but some part of him thought better of it, whether it was out of reasoning, sympathy, or some other useless emotion.

"Then how do you know-" she started, but Mercury cut her off.

"Trade secret. But let's keep this business-like. What's in it for me?" He asked.

"Tell me and I _won't_ beat you into submission," she threatened. Yang stood again at the ready to go punching away at him given the chance. She was about to kick off at him but he shot the ground before her. She was still cornered, nothing had changed. Mercury frowned.

"Ah, see I don't buy it. I don't think _you_ are in any position to be making threats, Blondie."

"...F-fine…. What do you want?" She hesitated before asking, expecting something horrible.

"Oh? What's this, are you getting cold feet?" He laughed.

"Shut up! I'll do whatever…. Only if it's legal… And you had better tell me what you know!" He laughed at her uncertainty and nodded for her to come to him. She disarmed and reluctantly started walking his way.

"Y'know, under that tough girl look you got going on, you're actually kinda cute," he mocked, though not stretching to truth much. An idea sparked in Yang's head with his comment. She flashed a smile his way and added some swagger to her stride.

"Let's be honest, I'm adorable," she bragged, "Come on, let's kiss and make up okay? Then you'll tell me where Ruby is."

"Well if you're offering," he agreed.

"Alright," she smiled brightly, "Close your eyes and pucker up!"

Mercury obliged as he stood there, eyes closed, leaning forward. When she closed the gap between them, Yang stood in front of Mercury. He waited there, eyes closed still, expecting a kiss from her. She was almost amazed at how easily he had bought into it. She leaned in as well and left only a few inches between their faces. Junior looked up and watched the whole thing play out. It brought back… painful… memories. But it was almost comical to watch the same thing happen to someone else. And just as he expected, Yang wound up to deck him square in the face, just as she had done to Junior. The only difference between her doing it to Mercury is that Mercury caught her fist. She hadn't expected him to move so quickly to block her, but there he stood, grasping her fist with a smirk as if he knew something she didn't.

"Yeah, adorable," he said sarcastically, holding back his laughter. She tried to free her arm, but he would not let go. He locked eyes with Yang who dropped her flirting air and struggled to break away. She was totally defenseless. She had no way to stop him as he held her chin and stole a kiss from her lips. Her eyes opened wide when he made contact and she stopped struggling for a moment. He merely brushed his lips on hers, but she acted as if he had done far worse. Yang's mind went blank with the kiss. Contrary to how she acts, she's only ever kissed a guy once or twice. Even then, it was more so as a joke between friends. Her heart was already racing, but now she couldn't tell if that was because they just clashed or because of him stealing a kiss. Yang's face flushed red in the second before he opened his eyes.

Mercury had not enjoyed it as much as he thought he would. He didn't hate it, of course, but he had expected more resistance. It was no fun if she passively allowed him whatever he pleased. But he thought he might have almost felt something when he saw Yang's embarrassed look. Affection, maybe? Forget that noise. His eyes wandered to the few of Junior's men running from the entrance to him. One of them whispered something in his ear and Junior got up after hearing what he had to say. He began ordering his men to the back of the club where they filed through a double door out of sight. Mercury's intuition told him that something bad was coming, and it wasn't often wrong.

He swiveled behind Yang and pulled her behind a ledged wall. His hands had moved from Yang's chin to covering her mouth and from her hand to wrapping around her waist, so he could move her easily. Just as he got them both out of sight from the entrance area, he heard the doors open. In walked three military clad men carrying their guns at the ready. The whole city had been patrolled by the military after the Grimm invaded and the culprits were still at large. Junior hadn't left like his men. Instead, he stood at his counter assessing the damage from what had happened. Mercury knew that Junior wouldn't spill the beans about him being there, or what happened. It wasn't so much trust as it was faith in blackmail. Word got out about him being there, then - Woops! There goes everything he owns and loves. He just hoped that the people searching the place were just as oblivious and inept as Junior's men.

"What a dump!" One of them commented on the wrecked room.

"Yeah, no idea why anyone would bother coming to a trash hole like this!" They must have been talking amongst themselves as they made their way over to the man in charge of the establishment, Junior.

"What happened here? We got noise complaints - and it wasn't the music. There was also that horde of people we saw rushing out. Care to explain?" The one who hadn't said anything yet asked. While he questioned Junior, the other two spread out some and looked for something that might confirm what he was about to tell them.

"I guess the partying might have gotten out of hand. What can I say, there are drinks being served, music's blaring loud. You never know what can happen," he explained as if he had no way to stop what happened, which was exactly the case.

"Well who's the guy that started all of this?" He asked.

"Oh, that jacka-" Junior stopped himself, knowing that Mercury was still within earshot, "Yeah, uh, his name's Jack. Must've gotten out with the crowd."

One of the guys managed to pick up the part of Yang's weapon that had been knocked off when she went after Mercury. That was bad: with that, they could link her to the scene. Who knows what ideas they would get given the thought of her sneaking out at night. Mercury was thinking the same thing, but with himself in mind. If they knew she was there, then they would wonder who she was with or why she made such a mess of the place. There's no doubt that Yang would rat him out without a second thought.

Speaking of Yang, he only just now realized that he was still holding onto her, covering her mouth and almost hugging her in. She had tried to rip his arms away from her, but to no avail. All of her strength had been drained when he kissed her. Why did she feel so weak to him all of a sudden? Only when the three men finally had left did he allow her to break free. She put a few steps between them before she spoke. Her eyes were still wide with surprise and she had to put effort into not stuttering her words.

"W-w-what are you doing?!" She demanded an answer.

"Oh, come on! Did you want to go over to them or something, maybe ask them if they wanted to grab a coffee later?" He rhetorically asked, not sparing the sarcasm, "Blondie, you tore up the place! I don't think they'll be all too friendly."

"That doesn't give you a reason to kiss me and pin me down like that!" She defended.

"First of all, you tried to punch me. In the face. _My_ face. Second, I believe I just saved your hide from the authorities. Shouldn't I get a 'thanks' or something?"

"Whatever! Just tell me what you know about Ruby!" She ordered.

"The brat's fine! Last I heard, she's sleeping like a baby," he told.

"Prove it," his word wasn't enough for her.

"What, do you think I would have a picture a girl being held hostage? Do you really think I'm such a sadist?" He asked, not at all expecting a serious answer.

"Yeah!" She accused.

"Wow! That hurt, Blondie!" He pointed to his chest, "Right here!"

Junior came up to the two and crossed his arms. As much as these two truly deserved to have the other tear them down, he had business to attend to: cleaning up the mess they made. He separated them and sent them off, not allowing them a word to defend their actions. Mercury was gone before Yang could get a second look at him outside. She should've expected that. She pulled out her scroll and activated it. No new messages. But the time on it said that she only had ten minutes at best to get back. She hopped onto her bike and sped down the road, faster than she went to get there. Soon enough she replaced the motorcycle where she had found it stowed away as if it had never moved. With only minutes to spare, she returned to the dorm where she found Blake.

Surprised as she was, Yang was more comforted by the fact that she wouldn't be alone in the dark room. But she very well might have been since Blake had already fallen asleep in the thick book she buried herself in. It didn't look like one of the others she read in her spare time. No doubt she was combing over records of the crimes for the however-many-ith time that was. She still clung onto the hope that she could find something out about whoever was behind Ruby's disappearance, whether she was dead or alive. But it was taking it's toll on her, and she probably collapsed from exhaustion. Yang pulled one of the blankets over her sleeping form. Blake had sleepily opened her eyes to see Yang, but went back to sleep without paying her much mind.

The next morning, Yang got a call from Ozpin. He had asked her to report to his office room where he wanted to have a word with her. She couldn't tell whether to be excited or worried about explaining what had happened that night to Ozpin, but either way she was anxious. When the elevator opened to the top floor, it revealed the room to be mainly empty. His chair was turned to face the window where he watched over the campus it overlooked. She walked up to his desk and sat in a chair that was pulled up facing him. He swiveled his chair and squared himself in front of her. He held his coffee in his hand and after a slow sip he said:

"I believe you know why you are here today, Miss Xiao Long."


	6. Chapter 6

It had been one rough day for Roman. After making sure the girl was stable and _not_ going to explode, he was left with the mountain of work he would have normally had the whole day to do. It was classic bad-guy duties: managing transportation of resources and men, barking commands, expressing his superiority, etc. The stores of dust were full enough, so he didn't have to worry about "collecting" more. Though, it had to be moved and reorganized into the space there at-

"Hey, boss, where do you want these?" Came a question from one of the goons, interrupting his assessment.

"Ehh, just throw it on top of the others," he gave the order without thinking.

With a nod, he left and relayed the command to the White Fang goon piloting the Paladin mech. They had enough containers of dust to fill an entire hangar, and those mechs were the only things that could lift them. Roman turned and walked to his office. He grumbled at the papers on his desk and pulled out a cigar. The day turned to night as he sorted through the documents. He had, of course, taken breaks every so very often to practice his caustic tone and sarcasm on whoever was unlucky enough to rub him the wrong way. Somehow, though, he got through everything he needed to do. It was well into the morning and he was beyond tired, but now he finally had a chance to close his eyes.

Or not. His personal scroll went off just as he leaned back in his seat. He picked it up and realized just how late he had been up. Normally, he would just be waking up then, and Neo pinged him a message expecting that to be the case. As if the world was bent on denying him a chance to relax, Neo told him to meet her by the main elevator. Whatever it was, it could wait five minute, or so Roman had thought. He was about to shut of his scroll when he got another message from Neo. All it said was: 'Now'. She was serious… and Roman knew enough not to keep a serious woman waiting. Reluctantly, he pulled himself out of the chair and flipped on his hat.

Neo was there, leaning against a wall with her scroll in her hands. Roman could only assume that she was preparing a message full of threats and the like for him in case he didn't show up. Oh yeah, do NOT keep a serious woman like her waiting. He rubbed his tired eyes and faced her.

"Alright, what was so important for you to deny me my beauty sleep?" He asked, not hiding his annoyance. Neo responded in sign. He never really knew if she couldn't or just didn't want to talk.

" _Give me an update,"_ she signed, _"Tell me everything that's happened."_

He almost forgot that she didn't know anything about the situation Red was in. Starting with a sigh, he went over the past events, leading up to now. Halfway through his report, she began walking down the hall. He paced by her side and continued talking. There wasn't much to say, but he didn't spare her his complaints and snide remarks. By the time he had finished complaining, they had gotten halfway down the hall.

" _Dude, just take a nap,"_ she signed.

"Well I would, aside for the fact that I'd be interrupted every five minutes because there seem to be very few people here who know what they're doing," again he complained.

" _Just go some relaxing place where they wouldn't bother you,"_ she gave helpful, yet vague, advice.

"And where could I go that they wouldn't find me?" He asked as they reached the end of the hall and he saw what room they had reached, "Scratch that, I know just the place."

" _You're going to go sleep with her?"_ She asked, not yet realizing how that sounded.

"Why not?" He asked rhetorically, giving a small laugh as Neo realized what she had asked.

" _Oh, you had better not-"_ she stopped short when she saw that he was already through the door. She grew worried knowing that she had played a part in something potentially horrible. She whipped her scroll out and hurriedly tried to reach Roman, since he had locked the door. But he had turned his scroll off, of course he did. She could only hope that she was wrong in her assumptions. Meanwhile, Roman had already pulled a chair up and leaned back in it with his hat covering his eyes.

Ruby had dreamed that she was at home in Patch. She woke from her solace without a clue as to where she was. It was understandable; her bed in Patch was just as comfortable as the one she was in now. But she didn't have the same homey feeling she got while in dreamland. Still drowsy, she rolled in the blankets, protecting her head from the light of the room. She wanted to go back to sleep, but at the same time wanted to know what was around her. Her lazy side took over and she started to drift off again until she heard the sound of someone shuffling beside her. Still half asleep, she reluctantly peeked out from the covers to see what surrounded her. Seeing Roman sitting next to the bed woke her fully into reality. He rubbed his eyes with his palm, unaware that Ruby had woken up. Her socially awkward tendency had taken over as she thought of what to do in this situation. She could pretend to be asleep still, but how long would she keep that up? She could make noise to draw attention to her so that he would notice, but it would be awkward if it was too obvious and he found out. And what could she even say if she wanted to start it off? Man, why is it so hard to figure out how to deal with your kidnapper?!

While she was lost in thought, Roman glanced in her direction. He was surprised and almost at a loss for what to do as well. He handled the situation much more accordingly, and spoke:

"'Morning, sunshine," he said first. Ruby hesitated before responding.

"Uh… What time is it?" It was the only thing she could think to ask at the moment.

"Hmm…. Judging by the angle of the sun and the trajectory of the moon…." He looked away from her for a moment, "It's around ten."

"Wait, what? This room has no windows, how could you tell?" She asked, puzzled.

"There's a clock here on the table next to me," he answered in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Bu- Ohh…" embarrassment burned in her cheeks. She expecting him to say 'duh' but that moment never came. Instead, he got up from the chair.

"Where are you going?" Ruby asked.

"I'm getting a coffee. We 'adults' usually drink it every morning. A kid like you wouldn't like it very much," he teased her.

"Well then I'll have some too, if you would. Since I am so totally not a kid!" She said indignantly. She had tried her best to sound like Weiss. Roman, being in no mood to argue or tease her further, left without another word. He returned shortly after and saw that Ruby had taken up his seat by the table and was now sitting there expectantly. He placed a mug before her full of dark, bitter coffee and placed his own at the other end of the table. Also next to her, he put a small jar of sugar and a carton of milk. He pulled out another chair at the table and took a seat across from her. She eyed the sugar in front of her.

"I don't need any sugar, thank you very much," she continued to put up the adult, ladylike appearance. Roman entertained her facade by dragging it away from her and poured some into his own.

With one sip from his mug, he felt better and more alert already. Ruby, on the other hand, was struggling to keep up appearances. She brought the mug up to her face, but after one small, barely enough to be called a sip, she cringed and gave a look of disgust. Obviously it was too bitter and gross. She wouldn't let him see her acting so childish, though. Regardless of her efforts, he noticed, or rather would have been oblivious to not have. As funny as it would have been to see her have to go through the entire mug, he thought of something much more amusing.

"Have a nice catnap?" He sparked conversation.

"Huh?" She hadn't expected him to ask, "...Yeah, I dreamed I was back in Patch."

"Wait, how did-" he stopped himself and cleared his throat, "So you live in Patch?"

He looked her in the eye and rested his elbow on the table, resting his chin on his hand. She put her cup down and looked up at him to see him staring at her. Naturally, she looked away, since she was horribly awkward and bad at dealing with people in general. While she wasn't paying attention, he dumped a spoonful of sugar into her coffee. Let's if she notices…

"Yeah, but I'm staying at Beacon now," she said. She went to take a sip again, expecting gross bitterness again. Instead, she noted that it wasn't horrible, though still gross. She gave a look of surprise at that, but still tried to look dignified while she still couldn't stand the taste of coffee.

"Aren't you a bit young to be training to become a Huntress?" He asked, taking another gulp of coffee. The spoon he had used to sneak sugar into her mug had fallen onto the ground as he replaced his onto the table.

"Mind getting that?" He asked her, not at all sounding as if she had a choice in the matter. She leaned down from her chair and grabbed the silverware that had fallen. While she, again, wasn't looking, he rolled his eyes and decided to just dump it directly from the jar. His unsteady hand accidently poured half of the entire jar in. Woops. Too late now as Ruby returned the spoon.

"Why does everyone ask that? Ozpin let me in after I kicked your butt that one time," she bragged.

"Hm, yes, I do remember that. Oh, how the tables have turned though," he responded.

She took a sip again, and this time she didn't cringe in disgust. Roman almost couldn't hold back his laughter. She was _such_ a child, with all the sugar she needed.

"How's that coffee, by the way?" He asked.

"It's just lovely, thank you," she imitated Weiss's proud tone.

"Well, that's good. I only had to pour in half the jar of sugar for you to not hate it."

"Half the- what!?" She looked and saw that the jar was half empty, "You're evil!"

"What, it's just some sugar. You obviously hated it without some," he justified himself.

"Now I can't drink it!" Roman almost burst out in laughter at how outrageous she was sounding. He finished what coffee he had left and got up from his seat. He picked up the two mugs and took them with him out of the room.

At this time, Neo stepped out of the elevator and was about to go down the hall to get an update from Roman. She was surprised to see Mercury idling about there. He saw her as well and walked her way.

"Give this to Roman, or whoever," he said as he handed her a scroll, "Belongs to the girl. I only remembered I had it just now."

She nodded as he walked into the elevator she just got out of. Paying their exchange no mind, she continued down the hall again. When she got there, she found the door was open. She peeked her head in and saw Ruby laying on the bed with her arms behind her head, waiting in boredom. The floorboards creaked as Neo walked in and Ruby looked up at her. Neo tried asking her where Roman was in sign, but Ruby only nodder her head to the side in confusion. Neo sighed and pulled out Ruby's scroll that Mercury had handed to her and sat in the chair by the bed.

" _What happened?"_ she typed onto the scroll then presented the question to Ruby.

"That man is evil!" She exclaimed. Neo hesitated before asking another question, assuming the worst.

" _What did he do?"_

"Well. It all started when I woke and saw him there next to me. Then the whole situation was really awkward and-" Ruby stopped midway as Neo got up from her seat. Something had snapped in her; she almost certainly had misunderstood what Ruby was explaining. Roman had been so unlucky as to walk in just now. Neo place the scroll on the table and faced Roman.

"Neo? What are you doing here?" He asked.

She grabbed him by the collar and dragged him out into the hall. Ruby sat on the bed, confused as to what was going on. She heard Roman's part in a muffled conversation.

"You know, that idea of yours really payed out!" He said. A loud thud followed his comment and soon Neo walked back into the room. Ruby continued her explanation.

"...Anyways, when I wasn't looking, he poured like half the jar of sugar into my coffee! I mean it was a lot better, but he totally made me look child-like. He even laughed at me! He is truly evil!" She complained. Neo had just realized how big of a misunderstanding she had made. She widened her eyes and glanced back at the door behind which Roman… Well, mistakes were made. He'll be fine. As she told herself this, Perry was heard coming up the hall.

"Hey, I'm just finishing up with- Wait, woah! Roman, why are you on the ground?"

Neo left again to explain to him what had happened and why he was there. Roman coughed and pulled himself up. After Neo explained her side, all Roman commented:

"Well you certainly got a foot on you."

The two of them walked back in the room and Perry stood in the doorway. Ruby was still sitting on the bed, confused still, and unaware of what had just taken place.

"What brought you here, Perry?" Roman asked.

"Oh! Uh, just came to say that breakfast is ready," he answered.

"Fantastic," he said with a dry and unimpressed tone, "And you, Neo?"

Neo had signed a message to him, but Ruby still couldn't understand what she was trying to say. By now, Perry had left down the hall again, not wanting to get tangled up in whatever was going on.

"Can't you handle that on your own?" He asked, "Or do I need to supervise you too?"

At the last part of his response, she pouted. Neo turned and left out the door leaving only Roman together with Ruby. Why did she always have to be alone with him? Ruby thought of all of the times when she declared him her enemy, yet now she was basically living with him. She couldn't really remember how many days had passed with her there, since most of the time she was apparently asleep. The thought of breakfast filled her mind as hunger took over. She hadn't eaten anything in a while now. Her stomach growled loudly, in a very unlady-like way. Her cheeks burned red with embarrassment again as Roman laughed at her.

"Hungry?" He rhetorically asked between chuckles, "Let's go, Red."


	7. Chapter 7

Jae here! Sorry 'bout missing last week's upload. Stuff happened, etc. I try to get a chapter out every week, I guess you could say I took a week off. Anyways, lots of dialogue here, I hope it's not too much. Feel free to leave some feedback or just some thoughts, ideas if you feel inclined to. Your support is greatly appreciated and I thank you all from the bottom of the hole in my chest where the heart's supposed to be for reading.

"So she's-?" Ozpin asked in disbelief.

"She's alive!" Yang exclaimed, celebrating the fact.

"She's…. She's alright. That's good," he relaxed his posture in relief, "But might I ask, how did you obtain this information? Is the source credible?"

"About that… You're not going to believe who told me," she warned him, "It was Mercury."

Up until now he had shown little expression on his face. Upon the utterance of his name, however, he gave a look of disbelief and then annoyance. It was obvious that he would be skeptical of her, of course. Not long prior, he was attacked by Yang after he couldn't fight anymore. The reason of her doing so was not clear still, so it was easy to assume that Yang might be against him, now using his name to clear her own.

"You mean to say that Mercury Black, one of the students here, not to mention the one that had to be carried out on a stretcher, is behind your sister's disappearance? Excuse me if I find that a bit hard to believe," he kept his reasoning about.

"I was shocked, myself! He didn't tell me much, but he did say that Ruby's okay," she tried to explain, "Oh, yeah! Did I mention that he was _walking_!"

"He was on his feet? How can that be if he should still be in a hospital? Are you sure you saw what you did? It's not unrealistic to have… vivid dreams when under excessive stress…"

"I know what I saw, and he was definitely there!" She purposefully didn't mention the part where they were at each other's throats again.

Just then the doors to the office slid open. Yang was still seated before Ozpin and hadn't looked away from him in her seriousness. Deep, resonant footsteps rang through the open room. Ozpin looked toward its source and his eyes narrowed at the sight. Ironwood walked to Ozpin's desk and stopped a few meters away, holding his arms behind his back.

"Who was definitely where?" He asked as though he was part of the conversation.

"General Ironwood!" Yang voiced her surprise.

"What brings you here, James? Can't you see we're in the middle of a _private_ conversation?" Ozpin was more against him being there.

"I apologize," Ironwood sure doesn't let up his manners, "Please, do excuse my interruption."

"Very well. Now, I'd like to continue talking with Miss Xiao Long, here. If you don't mind, you should know the way out," Ozpin dismissed him.

"I'm afraid I can't just leave, though," he refused.

"And why not? You may be the general, but that gives you no right to-"

"It's because I am the general that I'm here!" Ironwood claimed.

"And how do you suppose that?" Ozpin was sceptical. Ironwood turned to Yang.

"Miss Xiao Long, this belongs to you, doesn't it?" He asked.

General Ironwood presented part of Yang's weapon, Ember Celica. Yang remembers vaguely what had happened to it. The morning after she had gotten back to the dorms, she only found one of the gauntlets on her and had panicked as she got ready and tore the room up in search of it, until she remembered the events of the night prior. She completely forgot that it had been knocked off by Mercury when they went at it. It was probably left there. Knowing that it could be used to prove that she had snuck out made her go pale in horror.

"That's my -! Where did you find that? I tore the whole dorm up looking for it!" She asked as she stood up in surprise, trying to feign innocence.

"You should know full well where!" He accused, then glanced at Ozpin who had been onlooking with a piercing glare, "But I suppose I should explain anyways: Last night, we received reports of some commotion downtown. When we went to investigate, we couldn't find the one responsible, but we did find 'this'," he gestured with her Ember Celica.

"What are you accusing her of?" Ozpin interjected. Ironwood continued, paying him no mind.

"And you said this belonged to you, right? Now, what was this doing there, pray tell?" He asked as though he knew the answer.

"I don't know! I was in the room all night!" She lied, trying to defend herself.

"Really? Because we have someone saying that you just returned well into the morning hours," he said, "You're teammate, Blake. I don't have reason to believe that she's lying either."

"And you have reason to believe that Yang is lying? What could possibly be your reasoning for that?" Ozpin defended her, anger showing.

"Of course, you should be informed," he began to explain, "Finding this downtown, along with the witness testimony ascertains that Miss Xiao Long here was out last night. It can be assumed that she was a part of that commotion we heard about -"

"I didn't start anything! It was Mercury, he started everything!" Yang gave in to his assumptions, but even then she fudged the facts some. While it was true that she didn't start any conflict technically, she did throw the first punch. But he had it coming! The way he was talking, it was like he _wanted_ her to start something. Ironwood only looked down at Yang as she again tried to defend herself.

"So you admit that you were there? You admit your lie?" Ironwood pushed.

"Yeah, I went out last night! Of course, I'm worried to death about Ruby. I can't take much more waiting while doing nothing! It was the last place I looked, but all of a sudden Mercury walked up to me -" Yang spilled the truth.

"Enough with these lies, Yang! We all know that Mercury could _not_ have been there!"

"Miss Xiao Long," Ozpin interrupted, "Sometimes silence is the best way for truth to triumph." Yang sat back down again to calm down. Ozpin nodded back at Ironwood, gesturing him to continue his conjecture.

"What I need to know is why she was there. I already have one theory that seems to fit," Ironwood looked at the two who were watching him, hanging on his every word, "I'll be blunt about this: I'm putting you under arrest for suspicions of criminal activity, specifically causing public unrest and aiding with conspiracy. It would explain your actions in the tournament, along with what happened last night. And since we can't trust your words, it's all we have to go on."

"You're doing what!?" Ozpin was openly shocked.

"B-but I didn't do anything! It was all Mercury!" Yang went pale and stuttered for words that held so hopelessly onto the truth.

"It's obvious you're only using him as a scapegoat now! He's innocent, a victim even!" Ironwood rebuked the idea that Mercury the true perpetrator, "Come with me, Yang. You've got some questions to answer, and I wouldn't recommend making me use force."

Ironwood pulled Yang out of her seat and held firm as he borderline dragged her to the elevator. She was still in shock from the accusation he put against her, and armed Ember Celica almost on instinct in panic. Before he had a chance to react, she landed a fist square at his chest with her free arm. He released her and stumbled back, but otherwise took the hit well. Perhaps replacing most of your body with robotics allows this ability.

Yang realized the consequences there would be after she put a few steps of distance between them. Without a doubt, if he got his hands on her, she was in big trouble. It probably wouldn't matter what she said, she'd still be put away for something she didn't do. And once he composed himself from the force of her punch, he angrily paced towards her. In turn, she backed up further, glancing behind her out the wall of window that she was approaching. There wasn't much at the height they were at, save for a few Bullheads flying around as part of General Ironwood's military force. She turned forward again and fixed her eyes on the man closing in on her who seemed to be emanating an evil aura, full of rage.

Knowing she was cornered, she got a running start and dashed straight at the glass wall. It didn't put up much resistance and she escaped outside with only a few cuts from shattered glass. Using what part of Ember Celica she had, she shot downward in order to lessen the force of the impact and try to guide her through the air. Fast approaching was one of the Bullheads seen over the city at every point of the day. She landed on top of it as gracefully as a brick, but still in one piece. She held on as it sailed deeper into the city, allowing her a clean (ish) getaway.

The two men were left in Ozpin's office. Ironwood was watching her as she got further and further away, then turned back to Ozpin, who had been sitting all the same throughout the whole event. Neither said a word. Instead, they glared daggers at each other and held that stare for but a few seconds. Ironwood gave in and left with haste in his step. He left Ozpin there now with two or three more problems. First, the fact that Ruby was alive was great and all, but knowing that she was essentially being held as the equivalent of a prisoner put everyone in an awkward position if they wanted to get her back. There was also the newly developed conflict that just played out before his eyes. The idea that Yang was a criminal didn't sit well with him. Sure, he's letting his emotions and empathy cloud his judgement some, but the general definitely went to the extreme there. Then there was the window…. Quite the draft was getting in now.

Yang was in a tight spot for sure now. She had no place to go now, since the entire military will be after her, sure enough she won't be welcome into her dorm anymore. But there was definitely one place she could go even if the world turned against her: her home in Patch. The island of Patch was some ways away though, and she would need some way across the water. Once again, she was out of ideas and options. She wandered the streets in hopes that something good would happen or some thought would come to her of what to do. The light of the day burned out and the sky grew dim with still nothing. Most of her time was spent avoiding being caught until she eventually ended up in a more shady area of town. One street in particular almost popped out to her in familiarity. No doubt, just around the corner was Junior's club. The area looked much different during the day. She'd never been down there before dusk, since that's when the club opens. Just as she did when searching for Ruby, she went in as a last ditch effort for _something_. Down a hall or two, she saw that there was no one around. The whole place was dead silent. It was a big change compared to the loud music and crowd of patrons. The door to Junior's place was locked though, which figures since it's closed for another few hours. She pounded on the surface of the door and waited a few moments. No answer came, and she began to doubt that anyone was there at all. She repeated, only this time making sure to be heard if anyone was in there. There was an answer this time, a shout. She recognized the owner to be Junior himself, and so she saw him as he opened the door.

"Hey! We don't open until -" he began to say, then focused his sight on Yang, "Blondie! What are you doing here _again_!? If you're here to wreck the place again, just go ahead and leave already!"

"I'm sorry…" was the first thing she said, "I…. I need some help right now, and there's no one else to ask."

It seemed painful for her to get the words out, not because she didn't want to rely on him for help, but because she didn't want to impose on him further. She _did_ destroy the place two times already. Junior saw her struggle, though, and dropped the stand-off tone. He came through the door into the hall with her. Yang kept her head bowed, not wanting to make eye contact.

"Did something happen to that girl you asked about?" He asked, unsure of what it could be that made her come to him.

"No… It's not bad as that…" Yang started to explain her situation. Once she finished relaying everything, he held a hand against his forehead.

"So you're saying you're now a fugitive wanted by the strongest military force in all of Remnant? Are you kidding me?" He asked in disbelief, and Yang nodded.

"I need to get to Patch. If I can get across the water, I can get home, and I don't think they'd ever look for me as far as Patch. Any ideas on how I could do that?" She asked.

"I can't help you much. If that general gets you and you're linked to me, I'd be as good as dead too!" He responded, then noticed how distraught she had become, "Look, I'll ask around. If I find something, I could call and tell you. But you can't stay here, not when you're a fugitive. I'm sorry, but could you leave?"

Yang complied, and left the same way that she came in. By then the sky was a golden color tinted a very slight pink, and the crowds that were normally found on the streets had thinned out. Night was swiftly approaching, but she still had no place to sleep, no plans, and worst of all: no hope.


	8. Chapter 8

The halls of the place, wherever she was, looked awfully cozy for a criminal HQ. When she pictured the interior their base, she imagined something along the lines of Mountain Glenn with the concrete and dilapidated structures. Here, she was almost reminded of the dorms with the halls lined with doors into other rooms. It must have been a more residential area, she concluded. She followed Roman down the halls as though he _weren't_ her nemesis, and walked a few feet in tow behind him. At first she found herself having to pick up the pace as his stride carried him further than she could keep up with. But when he checked behind him to make sure that she hadn't run off and saw how much she lagged behind, he adjusted his steps to hers.

She had no idea where they were headed overall. She could easily get lost there if he weren't guiding her. The room she came from was at the end of the hall, and that only made it seem as though it went on forever. She wanted to break the silence between them as they repeated step after step forward without a word. But what could she say to kick off a conversation? 'Lovely weather, eh?' Nothing came to mind as she continued to follow him and stare at the white coat covering his back. Eventually, though they reached the end of it, only to open up to another hall that branched off to even more. She wondered just how many people were here as she stood there in awe of the potential maze she could get lost in. Luckily, though, he slapped a panel on the wall which then lit up. The doors adjacent to it slid open and showed the interior of an elevator.

Roman nodded for her to enter first, probably because he didn't - or couldn't - trust her yet. Still no words were said to the other. Maybe Roman was going through the same mental argument of whether to start talking first of wait. No, he wouldn't give anything like that much thought. He was an infamous criminal who's in collaboration with the hated and feared 'White Fang', not someone who would worry about a slip of the tongue creating an awkward air between them. She hesitantly stepped past him and clung to the corner of the cramped elevator so she could be as far from him as possible in such tight quarters. He entered after her and stood at the other end where he could control the floors. He was under the impression that she would actually try to press all the buttons just to be a pain, quite like a child really. She thought about what had just occurred a few minutes ago. Just before they left the room, he had invited her so warmly. What was that all about?

"So… Uh… Tell me about your dream, Red," he finally said. His words came without warning, so sudden that her heart jumped at them.

"W-what?" she was a bit confused by his request.

"Earlier you said you had a dream about Patch. Tell me about it," it wasn't much of an optional matter anymore. She didn't know where to start with it exactly.

"Uhhh….. Well you already figured out that's where home is," she remembers him commenting so, "I just…. Yang was there…. And Dad was there…. And I think Zwei was with me too."

"Are they your family?" Roman asked. Ruby hesitated to let out such personal details, but he obviously wouldn't let her off with just that.

"Well Yang's my sister, and my Dad is my Dad," she explained.

"Riveting. What about 'Zwei'?"

"Zwei's our dog," she kept it brief, "Why are asking all of a sudden?"

Before he had a moment to consider an answer, the doors opened and gave way to an enormous, open room full of long tables and swarming with people wearing the uniform White Fang mask. This must be where people come to eat. The sheer size of place reflects how many people are staying here, easily in the hundreds. She was going to have a tough time on her own with that many enemies about. As she get lost in the sight around her, she receives a sudden yank on her hood. It came from Roman, who didn't want to drag attention his way in his natural environment and almost drags her with him. She sways his hand off of her hood and adjusts it comfortably. She followed him to one side of the gigantic room. He stopped and pointed to a chair a table meant for two people.

"Wait here, I'll be right back," he turned to leave but paused, "And don't even think about trying to leave."

She nodded compliantly and sat down in the more empty area, alone. She felt more… vulnerable and weak with Roman by her side among the crowd of people. She didn't like crowds to begin with, but having all of the people replaced with bad guys makes everything seem a lot worse, especially for an unarmed huntress like herself. But she couldn't think that way. He was one of them as well, wasn't he? And speak of the devil, he returned carrying a tray with two plates on it. He set it on the table and sat down across from her. She had to consciously stop her mouth from watering. On each plate was a generous stack of pancakes, still warm. It reminded her too much of her time with the others, which seemed like forever ago at this point. Her heart sank as she thought what they must be going through with her gone. But the matter at hand took priority as Roman looked at her expectantly.

"What's this?" She asked, even though she knew the obvious.

"Don't you have some place like this at Beacon?"

"Not as big as this," she still couldn't get over the size of the place.

"Well, eat up. You haven't eaten anything lately," her stomach growled once again, causing her to flush with embarrassment, "And I doubt you'd want _that_ to happen again."

Roman leaned back in his seat and rubbed his eyes. He hadn't been asleep nearly long enough to deal with someone like her.

"Anyways, you gotta eat, so-" he looked back down to see that she had already wolfed down the entire stack as though it were nothing, "Oh… 'Kay. Quite the appetite for such a small kid."

He said this mostly to himself since Ruby was busy in her own world of bliss. She snapped out of it after a minute when Roman began to dig in himself. She got bored quickly, since all she could do was sit around. It's almost funny how boredom can overcome fear in her case. As Roman took his sweet time, she got anxious. She couldn't stop thinking about Yang and the rest of her team. If only she could get outside, she could probably get a signal and reach one of her team. Before she left the room she woke up in, she snatched her scroll off of the table. Neo left it there in the confusion that came from…. Whatever happened. Ruby must have luck on her side today. She began to come up with an idea. If she could get away from him for a second, she could escape. There were still no windows on the floor she was on, so she assumed that she was still underground. She could probably rush back to the elevator before they have much time to react. Then she could get to the ground floor and sneak out. It was the perfect plan, so she thought as her energy and confidence have been restored.

"U-uh, hey. I gotta go to the ladies' room, so I'll be _right_ back," she 'inconspicuously' gave herself an opportunity. She stood up and began to walk back towards where they came from. Hopefully her confidence would help convince people that she had a purpose to go there, and was _not_ trying to escape. Before she got two steps, though, Roman stopped her.

"Other way, Red! Over there," he pointed out without so much as turning his head.

She turned and started off that way instead. It would put a detour on her foolproof escape plan, sure, but she could work around it. She stepped inside the women's room where she immediately began looking for a way out. Her eyes landed on a conveniently sized air vent that was located on the far wall. She hopped onto a bucket and popped off the cover to the vent. Again, she thanked luck for being on her side as she crawled inside with plenty of wiggle room to spare. Her covert operation continued as she quickly covered the entire length of the vent. She might not have been the quietest in there, but nobody should be able to hear her there. Soon she reached a grate where she could look down and view who was below her. What she saw made her legs shake uncontrollably: she was already above that gigantic, open room. There were easily several meters between her and the ground. Ruby was okay with heights. She could fly through the sky at this height and not break a sweat. What scared her was the fact that she was in such a closed space where she couldn't maneuver so easily. If, for some reason, the vents were to give out below her and crash to the ground, then there would be nothing she could do except take the brunt of the impact. Slowly she crept forward, keeping these thoughts in mind. She tensed up, but continued onward… until the vent supports gave out just as she feared.

She must have made it to the other end of the room by then. Either way, though, everyone there would have heard and seen her fall from there and would have rushed over to see what happened. When they find out that she had tried to escape, well she tried not to think about that part. She struggled to get out from the fallen metal of the vents. Once her legs could carry her, she dashed out of there, leaving a trail of rose petals in her wake. It didn't take long to reach the elevator, and the doors were already open when she got there. She hit the top button on the panel to have the doors close and take her to the top level, presumably the ground floor. But the doors didn't close. She looked at the buttons she pressed and saw the issue. The highest floor she could get from the elevator was the one she must have been on, the one just below the ground. She couldn't get out this way. As some of the White Fang goons turned the corner, she ran right back their way. They hadn't expected her to run _towards_ them, and so she slipped right by. She was back in the big, open room again, where a large crowd of White Fang swarmed toward her. Ruby kicked off the ground and bounced off of their heads one by one, until she reached the other end of the room.

There was a staircase leading upwards there. 'This must be the way up,' she thought as she sprinted up the steps. The next floor up revealed even more of the White Fang, who rang an alarm when they spotter Ruby coming from the stairs. She slipped right by most of them, and ran full speed towards a set of doors at the end of a wide hallway. Some of the larger, brawnier, and tougher goons stood in her way. With the hallway being as wide as it is, she easily jumped around them as though they weren't moving. But one guy in particular stood just in front of the doors. If she wanted to get out there, she would have to go through him.

Ruby kicked off the ground with as much force as she could muster and gathered as much speed as possible headed towards the doors. When something moves fast, it wants to keep moving, she knew that much. She put all of her force into one strike on the guy standing in her way. She tried to tackle him, and expected to at least make him stumble back out the door where she could escape. But he didn't move an inch. This guy was something else: not only was he huge, he was also incredible strong. And before Ruby could recover from attacking he already grabbed her by her hood and lifted her in the air. She pulled on her hood in order keep it from choking her, all the while she was kicking desperately to break free. He held her in the air effortlessly and turned to face Roman Torchwick walking down the wide hall to him. Ruby stopped flailing about as she realized how futile her efforts were against him. She looked Roman in the eyes. He certainly did not look happy.

"What did I say, Red?" he said, "Don't even _think_ about trying to leave!"


	9. Chapter 9

Yang was no sneak. She was used to busting through the front door and going after the biggest guy that posed a threat. Whenever she had an enemy, she could overcome them with her strength and ferocity. But now that _she_ had become the enemy, what could be done now? She scurried from alley to alley, angry about the turn of events, humiliated that she couldn't even walk the streets anymore. The sky held dark with only a fringe of pink and orange left over from the sun giving way to dusk. The streets were empty with only the occasional shady figure hurrying along; this wasn't exactly the best part of the city. She felt out of place there, since she was still clad in her casual clothes, glowing a clear gold even in the dim light seldom produced by the street lights. She was tired, but still wary. The last thing she needed was to be arrested after getting this far. And so her blood ran cold when she felt a hand catch her shoulder.

"And where do you think you're going?" a voice filled with confidence and authority rang in her ears while she contemplated whether to run, fight, or act innocent. She hesitantly turned to see who her potential opponent was, and froze when he came into view.

"No, seriously. Where _are_ you going?" Of course it had to be him.

Mercury, again, stood there when she least expected. The strange thing was that he was wearing a police officer's suit and even spinning a pair of handcuffs on his finger. If she had never met him (which she wish she hadn't), he could easily have passed for an actual cop.

"Mercury! What are you doing here? Are you stalking me or something?!" she accused.

"Quiet down, would you? It'd be bad for both of us if we were seen by someone," he held his hand up at eye level towards Yang and scanned the area for anyone, "Plus, I'm taking the time out of my schedule to help your cute tail…. Ah, wait, that would have worked better on Blake. Oh well, let's just-"

"Who told you about Blake? And why are you dressed like that?" she asked with concern at first, then just curiosity.

"Start walking, then I'll start talking," he said.

"Hang on. What makes you think I'll just follow you wherever?" she asked.

"It must be the blatant truth that you have nowhere _else_ to go," he said matter-of-factly.

"Even if that's true-"

"It is, and you know it," he cut in to add.

"Shut it! I still wouldn't want to go anywhere you're going," Yang could only handle so much of him before her fuse ran too short.

"And why not?" he asked, and got Yang thinking.

"Well first, you're a complete jerk who starts fights just for the fun of it," she immediately recalled her encounter with him at the club.

"Okay…." he's not even going to deny it.

"You're condescending, self-centered, and narcissistic," she started to count out each insult on her fingers.

"Ouch, big words," he joked, "Anything else?"

"I don't even trust myself around you anymore…" she started.

"Huh?" Mercury expected the insults to keep coming.

"Cuz I kinda maybe sorta think you're attractive… I guess," she said, barely audible.

"What was that?" he couldn't hear her.

"Whatever! Let's just go already. And start talking. How do you know all that?" she began walking down the dark street together with him.

"Blondie, I know everything. And you want to know who voluntarily tells me everything? I guess it depends on your perspective, really. From yours, nobody. From mine, well, his name spreads far and wide. It wouldn't be any fun to spill the beans this early," he explains.

The two are at each other's throats with sarcasm for as long as they walked along. They passed by several buildings that were all decrepit and barely suitable for living, but apparently people were doing just that in there. Mercury stopped at a taller building that looked just as run down. Yang looked at him with confusion. All he did was lead her inside.

Inside that building looked just as bad as it did outside, if not worse. The walls were bare and crumbling. The few lights that were in there gave off barely any light and left everything coated with obscurity. Yang was startled when she learned that she and Mercury weren't the only occupants in there. Up one flight of stairs, as he led her, she saw a few huddled groups of men who glared back at her as though she were an enemy. Every floor housed more people, all who were too wary of Yang's presence to continue any conversation. Finally, at the top of the stairwell was a double door that looked almost out of place. The whole top floor of the place was much more well preserved than the lower ones.

"This your place?" she asked him.

"Yes and no," he answered.

"Why can't you give an actual answer for once?" Yang asked rhetorically.

Yang stepped forward and grabbed the handle of one of the doors. She tugged at the door, but all she managed to accomplish was pull the handle right off the door. Holding back laughter, Mercury took over. After telling her there's a "bit of a trick" to opening the door, he stands in front of them, and in one motion, kicks the doors clean off the hinges and into the room beyond them. It certainly wasn't the most graceful way to enter a room, but it worked.

He then proceeded to step over the broken door and flopped down on a couch that was against the wall on the other side of the room. Yang stood in the middle of the room in wonder of what to do now. She was led here by Mercury for some reason, but what reason could that be? He peeked his eye open at her and sighed.

"Why don't you plop yourself down over there or something. I'm not exactly a fan of people watching me sleep," he brushed her off.

At this point, Yang was too tired to argue or even acknowledge him anymore. She looked around the room for any place that looked comfortable enough to rest a bit. Everything looked too hazardous, let alone uncomfortable, but she stepped toward a corner concealing more space on the floor. Beyond the bleak, crumbling corner wall, she saw a much smaller room housing more… stable furniture than the rest of that on the whole floor. There was even a small bed. But if this was here, why did Mercury choose to sleep on the couch instead? Could it be that he's actually a nice guy? Or more likely, there was something wrong with the bed. Either way, she couldn't care less. She fell onto it rather than jumping onto it, finally feeling taxed by all of the stress from the day.

Morning came quickly. Yang drowsily opened her eyes to a bright room, alarmed by her scroll. She thought she had turned it off, but apparently not. She activated it and saw it had been going off with messages and calls incoming for at least an hour. She skimmed through some of them and saw that most of them were Blake asking what was going on, if everything she heard was right, etc. But one call that she missed was different. It was from Weiss. She had only called once, but she did nonetheless. Honestly, Yang didn't expect anything from her.

She slid off of the mattress on the bed, somewhat amazed that things were left as they were from last night. Just when she got to standing on her feet, a leg of the bed's frame fell out from under it and the whole thing half-collapsed. So that was why. Again her scroll flickered to life as she got yet another call from Blake. She answered it this time.

"Yang are you there?!" Blake hadn't expected her to answer.

"Yeah, it's me. What's got you so-"

"What happened!? They're telling me you're a criminal, what did you do?!" she was in a panicked frenzy.

"Who told you that?" Yang asked.

"General Ironwood said something about you working with them," Blake told her.

"Ironwood was the one who came up with that idea and accused me of it without any evidence! I didn't do anything! I just want to find my sister!" Yang still tried to defend herself, even to her friend.

"What?! I can't see him doing anything so… But I can't believe what he's saying either," she was conflicted. Obviously she wouldn't doubt her partner.

"Listen, I'm in a bit of a tight spot right now. Can you help at all?" she desperately asked.

"I can't do much without Ironwood doing the same to me. But I think I can send you-" Yang's scroll was suddenly grabbed from her hand. Mercury snatched it from her and ended the call. He then shut if off completely.

"Don't you know they can use this to find us? Who were you talking to?" he asked with a commanding voice.

"It's only Blake. It's not like she's gonna turn on me," she answered as she grabbed her scroll back from him. He pulled out his own scroll as he got a call as well.

"Yeah… Okay….. Hang on, what?" he was engaged in his own conversation and began to pace about the room, "How are we-... That's not happening…. I don't know, but let's talk about this first….. Do I have to? Fine."

"Who was _that_?" Yang asked in turn.

"Hm, maybe my boss?" he asked himself more so than he told her, "Doesn't matter, let's just go."

"Where are we going now?" she asked, still left in the dark.

"Well where did you say you were headed yesterday?" he asked.

"I didn't but," yesterday still felt like a bad dream, "I'm going to my home in Patch."

"Then let's go. I know a guy who can help…." he started walking down the stairs again with Yang in tow.

The sky was filled with dark clouds when they left that old building. A heavy rain fell onto the roads of the city relentlessly and showed no signs of letting up. As a result, there weren't many people walking about on the streets. In this part of town, there was already far less traffic than around Beacon, and with this rain, there were only a few people in sight at a time. The two of them walked about westward towards the ports on the city. Yang was too busy thinking to start any conversation. She hadn't heard what Blake offered to send to her, but what could it have been? She had everything she would need, really. She couldn't think of anything Blake could do that would help her more than her being by Yang's side. So what was it?

Her thought was interrupted by a thunderous sound booming from behind the two of them. They turned in sync to see what happened behind them. Yang could see nothing but a cloud of dust coming from the ground a block away, but then she noticed that Mercury was knocked to the ground. On his face was… something fuzzy? He tried desperately to brush it off his face, but Yang picked it up for him. She held the fluffy lump up in the air with a laugh of gratification: it was Zwei! Blake must have let him out to find her, which is kind of amazing in itself seeing how she tried to avoid the dog as much as possible. He barked to say 'hello' and licked Yang's face. He jumped out of her arms and landed on the ground next to Mercury.

"What was that!?" he asked in surprise.

"Oh, just my dog Zwei," she said as the dog licked his face too, "Heh, seems he doesn't hate you. He doesn't like bad people."

"Are you implying that I'm not bad?" he asked, almost hurt.

"You're about as bad as someone leaving their trash on the side of the road," she joked.

"Great comparison," he disregarded the insult.

"Why, do you want to be bad?" she asked.

"Of course," he said as he picked himself up off the ground, "All the chicks are into bad boys."

"Keep telling yourself that," Yang laughed.

The two of them continued walking along, now with a new companion with them. All the while, Yang was playing with Zwei, throwing a big stick that had fallen off a sidewalk's tree as far as she could for him to bring back. Mercury couldn't care less, as he adjusted himself, rubbing off the dog slobber and fixing his hair after that event.

They soon approached the ports along the coast of the city and Mercury stopped her at one building and told he to wait for him. She leaned against the wall of the building, obviously housing a business that ferried people across the water. A few minutes later, he came back out with another person.

"Told you I knew a guy who could help us," he told Yang as he gestured toward the other person.

"I thought you said it was a guy," she remarked as she saw who he got. The person beside him was quite feminine. Aside from the short hair and masculine clothing, she would have believed he was a girl.

"Hey, I'm not one to judge," he shrugged. The other girly-looking guy led them to a small boat fit for only a few people. Mercury stepped before Yang as their guide got to the piloting area of the boat.

"All aboard!" he said in a cliche way.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Heya! Jae here, chiming in! Seriously, though, sorry for being so late putting this up, I've been so busy with work. Big thanks to all of you who have stayed tuned to read this far! And let me say, I certainly wouldn't have been able to stay motivated without those of you who left a comment and all that jazz. Really, it's huge seeing that. Feel free to leave a few words of your thoughts or even suggestions if you feel inclined to. Who knows, maybe it'll get in here.**_

 _ **Shout out to Sweetest Writer for the story picture, and The Crescent Rose for helping behind the scenes!**_

* * *

When Ruby was caught by her hood, she was like a turtle on its back. That must have been the one downside of having a hood. After Roman came, the brute holding her carried her back, up until the elevator. It wasn't anything as graceful as Roman carrying her like - no, she promised herself she'd forget that. She couldn't be remembering things like that when she goes after criminals. She could hardly breathe the whole way, mainly due to the fact that she was held off the ground entirely from the hood worn around her neck. It felt as though she was going to pass out until he let her down. From there, she was led back to that room at the end of the hall she was kept in. The White Fang goon holding a loaded gun behind her all the way didn't exactly put her at ease, but luckily he stayed outside when the two of them had gone in.

If only she could be alone, though. That might give her some time to cool down, maybe prepare herself for facing him. Roman sat down in the chair as soon as he stepped in. Ruby was left with only the option of taking a seat on the not-so-comfortable cot in the room. It let out a squeak as she jumped onto it. She sat there with her hands in her lap, expecting to hear of the repercussions. At first, she closed her eyes, almost bracing for harsh and sarcastic words from the man sitting before her, but when they didn't come, she stared down into her lap. A minute passed and still nothing. She impatiently let her eyes wander about the room, like a child told to sit and wait for too long.

She saw Roman, his chin resting on his two hands which are clasped together. It was as though his icy gaze pierced her heart and caused her to look away. She looked elsewhere: towards the desk, the ceiling, to Roman, back to the ceiling, down at her lap, Roman, the door, the walls, more walls, Roman. Her view was always drawn back to him, then quickly away just before making eye contact. She was screaming in her mind _'Gah! Why won't he say anything?"_ She steeled herself to say the first words.

"U-uh, what are you going to do?" she finally asked, voice trembling some.

"About what?" came a swift response.

"You know… trying to run… and all that…." it was getting hard to get more words out with his cold gaze not letting up.

"Oh, _right_. Well, I was thinking I would stare at you gravely until you've thought about what you've done," he shut his eyes as though he were searching his memory while he answered, then stared back at Ruby, "Is it working?"

"A bit too much," she felt as though she would break from all of the pressure.

"Look, all I want to say is that you're making things difficult for me," he came out sounding sincere, almost.

"Why would I want to make things easy for you? You're the bad guy!" she argued.

"N- …. Wh- …. I believe it would be in your best interest to," he stuttered as though he was about to say something else, but stopped himself.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean, I'm pretty sure you _like_ not being like Neo's attempts at cooking," he said.

"Is that a threat?" she asked, raising her voice, "Are you gonna get rid of me if I don't do as I'm told!?"

Ruby was both angry and afraid, as could be heard in her trembling voice. It seemed as though her outburst hadn't caused any reaction from Roman, until he slowly blinked and moved his position to rest his elbows on his knees. His facial expression changed minutely to show a pained look. He looked away and sighed.

"Not me, Red…. Not me."

"You're not making any sense," Ruby said, confused.

"I know. But there's only so much I can tell you," he admitted.

"Then why tell me anything?" she asked, "Not that I mind. I mean, I don't like being kept in the dark."

"Because I want to. Because I'm not the bad guy! Because you should…" he trailed off, "Because you need to know."

"You lost me. What?"

"Ugh, you're like a toddler questioning everything," he complained.

"But I don't get it. You're the infamous criminal Roman Torchwick! You headed dust robberies and other crimes all over!" she said.

"Flattery will get you nowhere," he joked.

"See! You're even taking credit for it," she pointed out.

"Right. Sorry. Force of habit," he apologized. As to why he did, Ruby had no idea.

"How can you _not_ be the bad guy?" she asked.

"Red…. Ruby," he called her by her name, "All I am is an actor. A great one at that, too. Under certain circumstances, I've had to take the face of the villain….. And now that's all I'm seen as."

Ruby was genuinely confused at this point. For too long now, she'd seen how bad of a guy Roman was. She's even faced off against him, hero against bad guy. Now, being told all of that isn't true, rather, it's all an elaborate act… What was she supposed to believe? Here he is having a heart to heart with her while she's technically his hostage. Roman seems really out of character, apologizing and even calling her by her name, or at least she thought. Ruby lay back on the bed and rested her head on her arms. She thought for a moment. Can she really see him as someone other than a bad person?

"Do you remember that night at the dust shop?" Ruby asked all of a sudden.

"Dust shop? Talk about random," he said.

"Just answer the question," Ruby told him.

"Fine. Uh… which one? I get around, I see a lot of shops. Then again, it _is_ hard to find one open late," he pondered aloud.

"It's… uhm… the one owned by the old guy, with a big window, and…. Sells dust…" she couldn't remember the shop **to** well herself.

"I'm messing with you," he admitted. He earned himself a pout from Ruby.

"Ugh. Well about that time when I stopped you guys and kicked your butt-" she started to describe.

"If memory serves, you beat on a bunch of all-bark-no-bite pansies that a guy loaned me and then needed to be saved by a huntress. Where are you going with this?" he asked after cutting her off.

"Were you 'acting' then too?" she asked. Ruby's sour attitude towards him all started from that one instance. But if it's as he says, if that wasn't really **his** genuinely being evil…. Just maybe - MAYBE she could trust him and maybe rely on him. She prepared herself to hear him laugh her off and tell her that the whole time he's been messing with her and is really a bad person. In her heart, though, she hoped he would say yes.

"Of course I was. What would make that time any different from the rest?" Roman answered.

"But you fired at me! Weren't you trying to hit me?"

"I was," he answered without a second thought.

"Then I could have gotten hurt! If I hadn't moved and got hit with one-" she began to rant until Roman chimed in.

"They're like firecrackers. In fact, that's literally what they are, mixed with a tad of dust for effect. You'd be fine anyways. I told you: I'm a great actor," he explained, "Although my 'partner' on the other hand…. Well it was good that that huntress came along."

"Who was she?" Ruby asked, then his scroll alerted him, "Who's _that_?"

Roman pulled out his scroll and held it up in front of his face. He was reading something off of it, but Ruby couldn't get a good look at it. His eyes narrowed as he read and he put on a sour expression unintentionally. He stood up suddenly, and Ruby sat up in turn.

"To answer both your questions, well, I guess you could say she's like a boss. And now I gotta go over and have a little 'chat' about a certain scythe-wielding escapist causing trouble," he still was upset about her actions.

"Eheh…. Sorry?" she tried to smile and make everything alright, but Roman did not look amused as he stood there.

"Sorry won't cut it right now. I'm gonna be honest, Red, and I don't do that very often. Something bad's gonna happen. I can't exactly lend a hand much more. But if you still don't believe anything I've said, you will soon," he suddenly sounded very sincere, and it took Ruby by surprise. He headed for the door.

"Where's that other girl that was here?" Ruby hadn't seen her for a while.

"She's out doing a guy a solid. It'll only take a day or so," he explained.

"Well, what am I gonna do while you're gone?" she asked. Boredom was her worst enemy.

"Take a nap, I don't care," he brushed her off.

"But I'm not tired!" she complained.

"Then why don't you fiddle around on your scroll or something," he told her. She almost forgot she had it on her after all of that commotion.

"You knew?" she asked sheepishly.

"Now I do," he answered with a laugh. And with that he left.

Roman dreaded what would happen next. He walked along the length of the hall with a heavy heart. Word of course had gotten to Cinder about the girl's rash behaviour and had decided to do something about her. He wanted to help Ruby, but what could he do? He asked himself that with every stride further towards the designated meeting room. When he finally got there, he found Cinder already waiting there. She held that aura of elegance that she always had about her.

"Roman Torchwick," she started, "How are you liking our esteemed guest?"

"I don't remember signing up to be a babysitter," he said, annoyed.

"I would say it'd be more along the lines of raising cattle to go to the slaughterhouse," she described it.

"That's a grim way of putting it,"

"Yes, well you've done your part. We needed her alive and well," she said.

"Hold on, _needed_? As in we no longer do?" he asked, concerned.

"That's why I called you down here. I propose one final test. If she shows no signs by tomorrow, then I see no reason to continue keeping her here while she'll continue trying to run away. We can't keep her here forever, you know," Cinder told him.

"Tomorrow? Cinder, you tried just the other day, aren't you being a bit impatient? Kids don't grow overnight," he wanted to avoid having that happen to Ruby again.

"If I don't get results soon, then I'll move on to… Plan B if you will," Cinder said, "I've already thought out what we are to do. I'll get the same results regardless of how. It all depends on the girl now."

She got into the specifics of her plan, but Roman stopped listening. Knowing her, she was going to make it work by any means necessary. If only she would listen to him, but Cinder doesn't care whether Ruby lives or not. She finished her rant and shooed him off. He asked himself that question again: what could he do? It seemed as though there was nothing to be done. Those words Cinder said stuck with him. It all depends on the girl now.


	11. Chapter 11

Light bled in from the flimsy curtains in the room. A single ray of light cast itself so perfectly to ruin her sound sleep. She stirred, turning on her side lazily. Nothing seems very comfortable in the morning, and her position in the middle of the floor didn't work to help that. She was using some archaic book as a pillow and the pages stuck to her skin as she rolled over. What seemed like a few hours ago, she realized she had drifted off and tried to wake herself up, but to no avail. The sound of the door opening and the floor creaking pulled her from her rest, and she could just barely open her eyes to meet a familiarly gold-colored girl coming in. What time was it then? It was pretty late into the night when she last remembered skimming the pages yet another time.

Again, that light stung her eyes, which were still accustomed to the lingering darkness of dawn. She rose and brought a hand to rub her eyes. She kicked her legs to free them from a blanket that somehow managed to tangle around her. It was a mystery as to how it had

gotten there from the bed. And then she remembered: Yang. She was out last night; she hadn't come back by however late it was then.

Blake blinked awake suddenly, coming to terms with the impending daylight and realizing the gravity of what Yang might have done. Why would she have been out so late? Blake sat up and looked to Yang's bed in case she was still lingering there. The empty bed told her she wasn't. She was probably still somewhere around the campus, so Blake got up and set herself to head out. She kicked a small stack of books in her stride across the room. Every volume there covered a different segment history, as she searched for when and where everything went so wrong. The White Fang hadn't always been so… extreme. Her search for them and whoever else might be running crime had gotten vague as most trails went cold. It wasn't hard to find cases of their activity, sure, but she still couldn't figure out where, why, or what they were planning. Now that Roman Torchwick is running free, things would only be that much more difficult. Her head hurt just from thinking about everything again. This could wait until after she talked to Yang.

Before she could get down the hall very far, not even a minute after she got out the door, she met general Ironwood, walking opposite her down the hall. He seemed to be in no hurry.

"Have you seen Yang?" Blake asked.

"I haven't. Is something the matter? Isn't she in your dorm?" he asked. It was strange that Yang was gone without him knowing, or so Blake thought. It seemed as though he was always breathing down her neck, keeping her on a short leash as suspect number one in his search for those in league to cause the hysteria that recently unfolded.

"It's nothing. I didn't expect her to be up yet is all," Blake answered.

"Is there some reason she wouldn't be?" he asked, pressing her for information, his curiosity piqued.

"Not really…. It was just late when she got back," she said.

"Did she go somewhere?" he kept asking more and more questions.

"No, it could have been my imagination. It was pretty late," for some reason, she was put off by his inquiry.

"So you're saying she only just got back to your room when it was so late? With how things are now, nobody should be out past sundown!" he seemed to be selectively picking out the worst of what she said, "Do you have any idea _what_ she was doing?"

"You're making a mistake… For all I know, she could have been there the whole time and that was all a dream or something!"

"You have to trust me, Miss Belladonna. I'll make sure everything works out, don't worry," he said before he turned and walked back from where he came, "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to have a word with Miss Xiao Long…"

She could have sworn she saw his face plastered with a wry smile just before he turned away from her. Blake was having a hard time putting all of her trust in him now, and she was certainly worrying. She needed to find Yang before he did and make sure she hadn't gotten into anything serious. One glance down the hall where he was headed showed him pulling out his scroll, making a call to someone. Without a doubt, he was setting off to find Yang using every resource he had available, and within minutes he'd be on her tail. Blake called Yang herself, but got no response. Her usual missed call message sounded cheery and light-hearted, in total contrast to the worry and concern Blake felt for her. She looked back at Ironwood and saw he was already finished with his own call and pacing further down the hall.

In the spur of the moment, Blake followed his steps after he turned a corner, being sure to have enough distance so that he wouldn't notice her. She crept behind him with cat-like stillness, barely making a sound compared to the 'tip, tap' of his shoes echoing around every turn they take. It didn't take long for Blake to recognize where he was headed. The general was on a direct route to Ozpin's office. She watched from a distance as he stepped in through the doors, where she couldn't follow him without being noticed. What would he do in there? Blake wanted more than anything to ask him herself, but that was certainly out of the question. If only Weiss were here, Blake thought, then things might start making sense. She could have acted as a stand-in leader since Ruby couldn't. Blake knew that Ruby would come back, but when that would be is still a matter of hope for her. Weiss must be concerned as well, but she she's off somewhere 'safer' for the time being. She was just as out of touch as Ruby, but of course their situations are much different. But who knows, she might just answer a call. And as luck would have it, she did. And with small talk and pleasantries out of the way, Blake filled Weiss in on what has been happening.

"So did she _do_ anything to make things worse?" Weiss asks.

"Do you really think that Yang would do something criminal?" Blake responded.

"Well…. No…. But…" even she was at a loss for words.

"He went up to Ozpin's office for some reason," she said. She began to pace around a bit, growing anxious.

"Maybe Ozpin knows something and they're trying to figure things out too," she offered an idea. It made sense, too. Even if he was the general who has eyes, ears, and men everywhere, he didn't even know that Yang left her room earlier.

"I… guess you're right," Blake still had second thoughts, but going behind someone's back due to pure speculation like this wasn't great either.

"Just go ask him what's going on. I'm sure he'll tell you everything; you can trust him," she said.

"Right," the elevator to the office clicked to life, surely meaning that he was coming back down, "Here he comes, I'll get back to you later, okay?"

Blake casually started walking there so she could make up an excuse if he asks why she's there. She saw Ironwood coming out from the elevator to Ozpin's office. He looked livid, and stormed off immediately. Whatever happened, he certainly wasn't happy about it. What could have happened? She could still talk to him even if he wasn't in a good mood, right? She had to. Once she caught up with him, she stopped him and asked:

"What's going on? Is everything alright?" worry resounded in her voice, "Where's Yang?"

He let out a long, drawn out sigh while he stopped and thought about what to say. He smiled before he spoke, but in a blink, his expression turned pained.

"There's no way to say this lightly, Miss Belladonna. Miss Xiao Long…. Yang is one of the bad guys," he said, leaving Blake speechless at his proclamation.

"...What? But-" she was about to justify her partner.

"I know it may seem hard to believe, but I found irrefutable proof that she has ties to… 'shady' organizations. I confronted her myself, and she fled. Only someone guilty would have a reason to run away from the law," he went on.

"What did she do!? What proof!?" Blake was frantic. But it was understandable: it's not every day that you hear your partner is a heinous villain.

"According to you, Yang went off of campus last night and only got back in the early hour of the night," he began.

"Wait, I didn't-"

"And her weapon consists of two gauntlets that retract into gold bracelets, right? As a matter of fact, one of those was found last night at a known hangout for criminals and the like. The only reason she would be out there would be that she's working with them," he concluded.

Blake couldn't even think of words to say. She was conflicted with either condemning any thoughts of Yang being her partner, her friend, or going against the man credited with holding the whole of justice in his fingertips, putting villains away and keeping the people safe. Who was she to believe?

"I can't…. I don't want to believe it," she held back a tear in front of him.

"Trust me, neither do I," there was that flash of a smile again, then gone, "But this is how things are. You _have_ to believe me," he affirmed, "Is that all you came here for?"

"U-Uh… I wanted to talk to Ozpin about something, but-"

"I suppose now's a bad time, my apologies. Besides, it's a bit of a mess up there right now," he tried to lighten the mood, not succeeding however, "Say, while you're here, I'd like to know what happened on _that_ night from your perspective, if you don't mind."

Thinking about the hysteria and terror that came that night sent sent a chill down Blake's spine.

"I was with the Weiss mostly. We were fighting off the Grimm," she told him.

"Yes, good job with that. Your generation shows promising hunters and huntresses," he praised her, "What about Miss Xiao Long?"

"She was looking for Ruby. We talked over our scrolls, and it sounded like she had her hands full with the Grimm as well," she said as much as she knew.

"Would you mind if I got a record of that call from your scroll?" he requested. Blake nodded hesitantly, "My thanks. Now, if you'd just follow me…"

Ironwood led Blake down across the building to a meeting room. In the middle sat a large table with a screen covering it. He placed his scroll on top and a hologram of his own scroll came up along with an interface to use it. He held out his hand expectantly and she handed him her own scroll. With a nod, he placed it next to his and up came another hologram pertaining to hers. She watched as he dragged something from hers to his, tapped a few floating buttons, then dragged back from his to hers.

"Are you impressed? It's not every day you can see something like this," he showed it off to her and continued to fiddle with the holograms, "With this, both of our scrolls are linked and I can copy the file directly into my data banks. It makes that sort of thing so much easier."

With one final gesture, he swiped all of the holograms aside. He picked up her scroll and held it out for her. As she pocketed it, he let out a small laugh.

"If only everything could be so easy," he said, "Well, thank you, Miss Belladonna. I appreciate your cooperation. Why don't you get something to eat? I know things are getting stressful, but you need to stay strong, now more than ever. In the meantime, I have some work to do…"

At that, they parted and Blake headed back to her dorm. She saw all of the books still astray on the ground and felt the headache coming already. It could wait, she needed to get in contact with Yang. She didn't care if Ironwood said she was a criminal. The first person she thought of when she thought of the word 'criminal' was Roman Torchwick… And Yang was much different than him. She kept telling herself how she isn't anything as evil as he is, as she tried to call her again and again, until she fell into some sort of stressful sleep.

* * *

 _ **Heya guys, the evil Jae is here finally. Things sure have been hectic, what with summer starting and vacation planning and test taking and…. Yeah it's been hectic. But that is no excuse to stop the words from flowing! This chapter was surprisingly hard to write, and I couldn't quite finish as early as I wanted to. I hope you enjoy, though!**_


	12. Chapter 12

The halls had never felt so long, so narrow, so unending. He may have taken a few detours along the way in order to buy himself time before seeing her again. But during that time, he thought and overthought the situation multiple times over. Everything he'd try in his mind led to the same ending… all 'unfavorable' to say the least. But along with his stalling, his mind racing seemed to make time stretch. When he thought back to his talk with Ruby, something that happened only minutes ago, he felt as though he either dreamed that whole scene up or it happened days ago at least.

What could he do?! He asked incessantly, as though he'd find the answer the next time he asked himself. Whatever he schemed, though, always ended up with Cinder finding out and having him snuffed out… or Red.

He wasn't too used to this feeling. What was it? Concern? It was foreign to him. He'd gotten to where he is by holding confidence close to him, sacrificing his own humanity to reach an end where he was on top. Regrettable as it may turn out to be, he wanted to keep it that way. But that girl was making it as hard as trying to break a habit. He had no idea why that was, or if he did, he didn't want to admit it.

In stark contrast to Roman writhing in thought, Ruby was still sitting in the room losing her mind to boredom. After Roman left the room and she heard a click telling her that he had locked the door behind him, she got right on her scroll. If she could only get a message out to the gang, she thought. She tried to connect to her sister's scroll, Yang would be the first person she went to for help in anything. The call wouldn't link, though. She tried again, but got the same results. She tried to stay optimistic and told herself that Yang's scroll must be off or something. She tried to call Weiss instead. Being a Schnee meant that she was always within reach of others, in case of 'family matters', she always brushed it off as. But Ruby's scroll couldn't reach hers either. She tried Blake's as well, but still to no avail. It was obvious now that she couldn't get any connection. And just like that, her plans went out the window. What now?

She tried to entertain herself for a few minutes, but her scroll was given to her 'strictly for communication only'. She flopped down on the bed without anything to do. Boredom was her worst enemy, though; she lost herself to thought whenever she was bored. Her mind wandered aimlessly, until she came to the subject of her 'captor', Roman. He still didn't have her trust, but not much did at this point. She was still in a jumble of questions, all connected, yet standing without an answer. If he wasn't the enemy she saw him as, then what was he supposed to be to her? Was he supposed to be a friend? How was she supposed to act in front of him, knowing that for all that time, she'd wrongly persecuted him? As she usually does, she looks to Yang as an example. She often came home with stories of some guy she had a fight with, wanting to make up with him. Ruby remembered her getting all dressed up, practicing what to say, and stressing over which over-the-top perfume to use.

There's a start, she thought. She didn't have anything to dress herself up, though, not that she'd want to. The hood held all the fashion she needs. She couldn't think of anything to say to him when he gets back, either. She had a hard enough time saying anything to him to begin with. And she didn't even like to be in the same room as those pungent perfumes, but… did she smell? Anxiety grew as she remembered how long she'd gone without a shower. Surely he'd be willing to… help out with that, right?

He had nothing. And he couldn't put it off any longer. The door was right in front of him at this point. He steeled himself, trying not to think about having to break the news to her. Instead, he thought of the first thing to say when he walks in. It had to be some snarky, sarcastic remark, right? Yeah, that'll do. He clicked the lock on the door mindlessly and wrapped a hand around the knob. But he hesitated. Some joke? Is that how he's going to come back to her after all of… _that_ he said to her? Why was he so dissatisfied with that?

The moment of wait before he opened the door left Ruby time to expect him. The noisy lock echoed through the room and made her spring to alertness. He swung open the door and opened his mouth to say something, but was immediately interrupted.

"H- hey, uhh…. C-can I… go… to…," her words were a jumbled mess of anxiety at this point, "I-is there a, uh…."

Roman closed his mouth and raised an eyebrow, staring at her in wait for a full question.

"Where's the, uh…. 'Lady's room' for… where I can, y'know… 'freshen up'?" she was an awkward mess. But then again, it wasn't something she could easily ask for. She expected him to laugh in her face or the like. Instead he said:

"Red, you literally just used that trick. At least _try_ to be a bit more creative."

"No! That's not-" she began to deny it, "I'm asking if I can… y'know… take a shower… or something?"

Her words trailed off into a mumble and her cheeks grew rosy, showing her embarrassment over the fact that she needed to ask. In any other case, he would've done exactly as she expected, snarky sarcasm and all. But knowing what'll happen tomorrow, he'd allow her the small things.

"Fine," he said, the hint of sorrow in his voice inaudible to the girl.

He turned on his heel and stepped back outside. Looking back at her, he nodded in front of him to gesture for her to come along. She hopped up and got in line behind him. In the middle of the long hall she walked down before was where he led her.

"Here," he pointed at the door when he got there.

Ruby thought things were awkward when she had to ask, but the silence that held unbroken between them all the while added tension to that mix. She thought it was strange that he was so quiet. Normally, he had something to say in every situation. Did something happen? He was unusually quiet after she was caught trying to run, but at least when he came upon her there, he said _something_ in character. How he was acting now… something seemed off. She wanted to ask, but she never was good at starting a conversation, even when it was light-hearted with her friends. Instead, she walked through the door compliantly. Surprisingly, the showers were a lot like those at Beacon. She set herself to autopilot at the familiar thought.

Roman stood next to the door for several minutes, waiting for her to come back out. A sudden crack and a boom shook the foundations of the whole building slightly out of nowhere. It must have been thunder. At least, he hoped it was. The stormy clouds and rain gave off the perfect ambience for him to kick back and watch nature work its destructive course. Another crack came and made the floor vibrate below him for a moment. Thunder and the like _did_ interest him, but after the first few strikes, it lost its touch. And so he fell back into thought, merely as a way to pass the time. The first thing that came to mind were Cinder's plans and what she had in store for Ruby the next day, but stopped himself. It was already eating away at him at this rate, and he never liked to handle stress. He tried to fill his mind with other thoughts. How was Neo doing? She had gone out earlier to lend a hand, and it'd take around a day for that to finish. Maybe she wouldn't be back in time for Cinder's 'final test'. Again that thought came up. Roman needed something else to take his mind off of it. And like a prayer being answered, he got a call. He answered, then was met by a roaring sound from the other end, like that of an engine.

"Agh, kid, what's going on there?" Roman complained. He couldn't hear much of an answer, but he was able to make out some parts of it:

"Neo's… me and… there…" most of the words were drowned out by all of the noise, "We'll… up the hill by the…"

"Hang on, what?" he asked, only to be cut off as they hung up.

He was upset about this for two reasons. One being the nature of call; he had no idea why he needed to get some cryptic message across that he couldn't even understand. The other was that they hung up on him. _He_ was the one that hung up on other people. This was an outrage. Though, it was easily shadowed by the two knocks that came from the door beside him. She must have finally finished up in there. He knocked in response and called to her through the door.

"You done?" he asked, loud enough for her to hear.

He waited a few seconds, then opened the door. He wasn't sure what he expected when he looked inside, but it definitely wasn't that. As he met the hot, humid air from the showers, he caught a glimpse of her before she slammed the door back in his face.

"W- Hey!" she yelled. She was wrapped in a towel. Thinking about it, that would make sense, since she didn't exactly have anything to change into.

"U-uh, okay. Alright. My bad," he said through the door, "Right. Stay there and don't move. I'll be… _right_ back."

He rushed down the hall to scrounge up whatever he could find for clothing that might fit her. Grabbing a shirt he never bothered to wear from his own room and a pair of black pants that any White Fang goon would get, he hurriedly ran right back. Then again, he was pretty sure she wouldn't try to run around wearing only a towel around her. When he got back, he again knocked on the door and slowly cracked open the door to hand her what he had. He played the waiting game again, which was never his favorite. All the while, he hoped no one would come by and see this whole ordeal. He certainly would lose respect and credibility, although he always wondered if he had any from them to begin with. Against his hopes, he was spotted by someone dressed in their usual White Fang attire.

"Ah, hey! What're you doing here?" came the goon. Roman recognized the voice to be Perry's. He was almost relieved to meet him there. He might've panicked if anyone else came… 'might' being the key word.

"Watching paint dry, Perry. Not much fun," he answered.

"Did… they paint in here?"

Right after he asked, Ruby came out into the hall, right in between the two of them. She had on what he had given her. The shirt alone could have been a dress on her. Her face was still flushed a rose color, but Roman couldn't tell if that was from the heat or from… Nevermind that, he told himself.

"Oh, did I say paint?" he mocked rhetorically.

"Ah," Perry said dumbly, knowing not to actually answer that.

"Yeah. Well, Red, start walking," Roman ordered, remembering that he was a cruel mastermind in the underground.

"H-hang on, what should I do about this?" Ruby asks, holding a basket filled with black and red fabric, presumably her standard outfit. Roman didn't exactly have an answer. It wasn't like _he_ ever did his own laundry here. Though, he never needed to. He had his own hideaways to go to for a villainous vacation. He took the basket from her and turned to Perry.

"Do me a favor and throw these on the ground outside, let the rain get to it," he requested, passing it off to him.

"Wait! No! You can't-" Ruby was frantic.

"I'm kidding, Red," he laughed at how serious she was, "Take care of that, would you?"

Roman dragged Ruby back down the hall, leaving Perry to handle the task given to him and wonder why he always had such bad timing. Inside her room, the two took up their usual spots. Roman sat in the chair, while Ruby sat on the bed, now with her back turned to him. He didn't need to see her face to know that she was pouting like a child. The silence between them was palpable, but he wanted to talk to her and hopefully clear up what happened.

"Look… about before…" he began.

"You didn't-"

"All I saw was a door in my face," he answered before she asked. It may have been a small lie, but it wasn't too far from the truth. The only thing he really processed was the fuzzy pink a towel, nothing more. She turned to face him when he said that.

"Really?" she asked in disbelief.

"Would I lie to you?" he asked.

"Uh…"

"Don't answer that," he said, earning a chuckle from her.

She seemed to be a bit more at ease than before. She certainly looked that way, Roman noticed, trying not to remember her small figure clad only in pink. He looked instead to her face, taking notice of her silver eyes, her damp hair hanging in her face, the citrusy lemon scent of shampoo emanating from her. None of this he had ever taken into account from her. She always seemed to be 'the girl' or 'her' in his mind before. He smiled, but when she looked up at him, he tore that expression away and stood up.

"All good?" he asked.

She nodded. He stepped towards her and tousled her hair, acting on a whim. She swatted at his hand and he walked back towards the door.

"Great. Now get some sleep," he told her.

He left, free from the weight of guilt and apprehension he felt for the next day, if at least for a moment.

* * *

 _ **Hey guys! Leave a comment if you have any questions, concerns, or even an idea of yours. Who knows, answers may be on the way, only in wait for the right question.**_

 _ **Anyways, my apologies for waiting until the weekdays to put this up. But some stuff happened -cars, family, and hospitals, not in that order- and I was stuck AFK whenever I went to get stuff done. But happy holidays to those celebrating! And enjoy! -Jaegrey signing out-**_


	13. Chapter 13

Blake's call came from out of nowhere. It was unexpected to say the least, and the thought of her team brought back the stress of loss in her life. Being on team RWBY was the first time Weiss had ever emotionally invested in others to such an extent, and now that'd been ripped away all too soon. She felt as if a bandage had been torn off before anything had time to heal; she wasn't ready to face them again. How would they see her after this? It wouldn't hard to believe that she had ran from everything, escaped to the safety and comfort of home while the others were left to manage their own tragedies.

That couldn't be farther from the truth! Weiss pleaded with her own image of her team's disappointed, frowning faces. If only they would listen to her. The choice to return home wasn't hers. She would've stayed. She would've helped. She'd cry with them, and laugh together with them too, at all the small things they met as they rebuilt the comfort of friendship and the safety it held before everything went downhill. No longer was she the ice princess who held others below her.

These were words she waited to explain to her team, or anyone who would listen. The call from Blake was an opportunity to use them. But she never got her chance. Instead, the topic stayed on Yang, Ironwood, and everything going on between the two. More stress to be piled onto the fact that Ruby is missing and the rest of the team parted. She tried to encourage Blake, even though none of her words would mean much. Knowing Blake and her tendencies to over-exert herself, she needed someone to stop her from killing herself from lack of the basic necessities of life.

"Don't worry! I'm sure everything will work out somehow," Weiss waited for a moment's opening to instill some form of optimism in her. But all too soon, Blake cut away. It was little compensation knowing that Weiss gave her some solution to work upon. Though, perhaps it was for the best that Weiss couldn't speak her line. It would be hard to convince her anything if Weiss didn't even believe it herself. Optimism wasn't her strong suit. She'd always held realism and rationality at a higher priority.

She needed a change of scenery, a change of pace maybe. Talking could only get someone so far, and without being there in person, the problem felt so distant. And the 'safety' she was guaranteed in her home seemed more like imprisonment. It only helped to make the rest of the world and the people there seem that much further away. Anywhere off the property was off-limits for her. 'We can't ensure your safety if you go out' was the message she got every time she tried to leave. She was lucky if she could even get out the door to get some fresh air in the garden. Whoever ordered them to guard the estate may as well have been convinced the whole world was out to get her, or vice-versa. So again, she'll be cooped up in the spacious - empty - house.

Weiss felt alone in that place. It was supposed to be home, but it felt as homey as a hotel. Good enough in looks to pass off as a cozy place, but nothing sentimental there. She felt more at home at Beacon, but… Again, she was stuck on the thought of her team and the fun they had together. Her memories retold peaceful times, with proms and classes. They were vivid, colorful, and instilled hope, happiness, and warmth. Reality hits as it usually does, though, with a train crashing full of problems and regret. But now that only made her want to make everything go back to how it was.

She got to wandering about the halls and rooms with her absence of purpose. It never felt right to just sit around idly while something could be done. For Weiss, it was just a matter of figuring out what she could do. She thought and thought, but the only things that came to mind were sneaking out to meet with the others, or stay here with the wild-goose-chase of asking 'have you seen this' or 'tell me what you know about this'. Neither seemed promising, she thought more and wandered more though the dim halls of the building.

A shred of light caught her eye from a door she never dared to intrude upon uninvited: the study. That room more or less belonged to Winter, whenever she was home. She held that attitude of 'business only' even at home as well and worked all the same. The study might as well have been another office for her. As such, the door was usually closed or locked, Winter or no Winter. Weiss never saw it left open, not even a sliver as it is now. She reached to open the door and prepared a sisterly greeting. She caught her words before they left her lips, though, when she heard Winter speaking already to someone else. Curious, Weiss peeked inside.

"It would do you well to stop acting like a _child_ already!" Weiss heard her sister say. She was convinced, for a second, that Winter was talking to her. Again, readying to speak, she heard another annoyingly familiar voice chime in.

"Well, 'scuse me! I just wanted to make a point of _how great_ it was that your entire air fleet _just so happened_ to in the area before all this happened!" There was heavy sarcasm in his voice.

"Isn't it also _quite_ the coincidence that you're also in town the day troubles started," another man's voice rose with equal biting sarcasm.

Weiss opened the door further, just enough that she could see inside. She wasn't spying on her sister, was she? No, this was just... concern for her family. Weiss wouldn't get into any trouble for that, now, would she? Across the room from the door, she saw Winter at her desk and terminal, her usual position. There were three other screens up, most likely she was talking to three others in some meeting. Weiss could just make out two of them, the ones who were talking before: the general, Ironwood, and that psycho, Qrow. Just like that, their reasons behind their tones became obvious.

"Who wouldn't go watch the Vytal Festival if their kids were in it?" Qrow spoke back to Ironwood.

"Yes, it sure must have been _important_ for you to watch. _Especially_ Yang's match..." it was obvious the general was hinting at something.

"What are you trying to say!?" Qrow continued to argue with him.

"He's not trying to say anything! Right... _General_?" Finally Winter spoke up to mediate. She was always level-headed… usually… sometimes.

"Yeah, right! Oh, Jimmy, please, _do_ stop fighting! Ha!" Weiss was almost as mad as Winter when she heard Qrow's mocking imitation her sister.

A loud gulp came from one of the screens. Winter frowned in disgust as Qrow downed his usual take of alcohol. She could never accept how he was allowed to get so drunk while on duty. He was a disgrace and a likely turncoat all the same. No one in Atlas would be like him, and for good reason. Even though she's managed around him before, Winter still can't hold her contempt at how he looks, smells, and talks like a bum every waking moment.

"Oh, of course he's drinking again!" she exclaimed.

"Well, he must have it hard since his niece is one of the most wanted criminals right about now," Ironwood explained this to Winter as though Qrow weren't there. In response, he slammed his glass on his table and let out a heavy sigh.

"Jeez! Is that the only thing you got going on, _oh general_? Don't you have better things pop a vein over like, I dunno, Atlas' security? No? How 'bout your 'public enemy #1' - oh, excuse me, #2 now? Or, hey, why not just throw a parade with your army of paper planes and toy soldiers? Still seems better than chasing a 17 year old girl for whatever reason you may have!" Qrow raised his voice, ranting to the general. The sound of him pouring himself a glass comes through under his rage, "'Cuz obviously lookin' for a missing 15 year old is beyond you!"

"Are you finished, _Qrow_ …?" The general was livid.

"Whatever," Qrow emptied his glass again and clicked his tongue, "You've been quiet this whole time, Ozpin. Care to add anything?"

Ozpin must be the other person in the meeting, as Qrow wouldn't be with him and there was still one person unaccounted for. It would make sense for him to be included in this meeting, too, given who else was there. As if to announce his presence, he audibly sipped his coffee. He was about as fanatic about coffee as Qrow was about alcohol.

"Oh, my apologies. I was just concerned it might rain soon," he sounded calm, ignorant of the tension the other three had between them, "I'm a bit worried about the weather, given the draft getting in…"

"Do you have any thoughts on the matter," Ironwood asked after clearing his throat.

"Don't you know, general, that a cornered mouse bites back, regardless of whether it's chased by a cat or a dog?" Ozpin asked rhetorically.

"I'm afraid I don't get your analogy," Ironwood stated plainly.

"It matters not. If you'll excuse me, I have some maintenance to attend to," he held some bitterness in his words, "Oh, and if I could make a request. Go easy on the students if you can. I'm sure you can understand, things are quite difficult right now for them. Especially teams RWBY and JNPR."

With that, one screen faded from Winter's terminal. From what Weiss could guess, Ozpin must have left. Though something seemed off about him. Sure, he was cryptic as usual, but some part of him felt different than when she saw him at Beacon.

"Ah, great idea, Oz. I'm outa here, too," he said, faintly with his drunken slur. His screen faded away as well, leaving Winter with Ironwood in their transmission. She began to lean back in her chair after Qrow left. Without him and his incessant immaturity, Winter could relax a bit.

"That reminds me," suddenly Ironwood spoke up, "How's your sister, Weiss doing?"

"She's… I believe she's well. I haven't had a chance to talk with her yet," Winter said.

Weiss was a little disappointed at the fact that she prioritized Atlas over her. But what was she expecting? Winter is an Atlas specialist, and she was merely a student at Beacon. Weiss already got used to the fact that her older sister lived practically in another world. Knocking her back to the matter at hand, her scroll came alive, nearly giving her away with it's notification sounding. It was a message from Blake, again, unexpected.

' _I need to come see you, it's urgent!_ ' the message read. For now, Weiss ignored it and looked back into the study.

"I see…" he trailed off and looked away as though he was focused on something else. Perhaps he had several screens up on his terminal.

"Why do you ask?" she wondered why he would need to bring her up at all.

"It must be hard for her, what with her team as it is," he sounded concerned for her.

"Yes. And as much as I'm against it, I do have personnel on constant guard. Weiss will probably hate me for it, but at least we'll know if and when she comes," she reported.

"You should try convincing her to join Atlas. She could be a valuable asset. She _is_ your sister after all!"

"Believe me, I've tried. But for some reason she's adamant about becoming a huntress," she sighed.

"A pity. Anyways, why don't you take a break and spend some time with her. I'm sure everyone involved will benefit from it," Ironwood offered.

Weiss was interrupted from her eavesdropping by her scroll again. But it didn't matter, the meeting was just about over. She hurried away, back to her bedroom where she would be comfortable talking to Blake again. It was a bit odd how she wanted to come here, Weiss thought. Whatever happened, it must be of utmost importance. She wanted to respond in a way that matched Blake's seriousness.

 _Weiss? -B_

 _Don't worry. -W_

 _I'll leave a window open for you -W_

 _Okay. I'll be there soon. -B_

 _I'll get some milk ready, then. -W_

 _What? -B_

 _…_

 _Weiss? -B_

 _…_


	14. Chapter 14

And here he thought he could have a nice cruise across the water with a cute girl. It almost hurt, what with how quickly his dreams had shattered against this reality, that Mercury wondered why he even bothered to go through with this. Soaked through his clothes, beaten by wind, deafened by the roar of it all, he wasn't exactly comfortable. He frowned and shielded himself from the torrents of water splashing at him. Assumably, it wouldn't take long to cross the water, but then again, he's never piloted a boat. And after finally grabbing someone who could, he wasn't going to complain. Whatever, he told himself. He'd been through worse. Even worse than the rain that suddenly started pouring down over them. Cold as it was, he'll live. Thunder, on the other hand, was something he hoped wouldn't come. Hopefully they'd be under some shelter before then.

Mercury looked back at Yang, who seemed to be just as annoyed with the situation as he is. Her long hair blew behind her, carried by the violent wind and getting drenched until it clung to her back. Still, he thought, something about her just captures the beauty of anything she has about her, especially soaked as she is. Thoughts came and went in his careless waiting until he came upon the thought of her by the pool. What a sight that'd be! But it'd be… awkward to say the least for him. Swimming would be a challenge for sure. He looked down towards his feet, head full of thoughts and memories he'd like more than anything to move on from. Mercury propped his legs up onto the other side of the boat and leant back. He glanced back at Yang. Catching his eyes, she yelled at him over the noise - or at least tried to.

"Hey! You want to start explaining things already!?" she shouted, though none of her words got through. Even to her own ears, she voice was muffled and mixed into the white noise surrounding them. Mercury furrowed his brows and moved towards her a bit.

"What!?" he yelled back at her.

She repeated her question, though try as he might, he couldn't understand a word she said other than 'hey!'. He pointed to his ear then held up his hand, all trying to signal to her to hold the thought until they're on land again, he couldn't hear. It wasn't hard to guess what she would ask, though. Most likely complaining about her sister. He did tease her a bit about it. Fun times. But now he was curious about her as well. Might as well call up his old buddy, he thought. He could set up an 'appointment' of sorts with him while he's at it, why not? Mercury was sure that he'd love the call anyways. Once the call connected, Mercury heard a yell from the other end.

"Agh, kid, what's going on there?" At least he knew he's talking to the right person.

"Neo's taking me and the girl's sister there. We'll be staying up the hill by the-" he started to explain the situation until a crack of thunder echoed and the line cut out. Hopefully his message got through.

As they finally getting to land, the thunder amped up its intensity. The three of them were already soaked as they were, so they were indifferent to the rain pouring heavily on their shoulders. Mercury stretched as he hopped off. Yang jumped off next to him, and Zwei landed in front of her as well. She had almost forgotten he was with her on the boat. He was surprisingly quiet the whole time, or at least compared to the boat's engine.

"Agh finally! Never thought I'd be glad to see a bunch of trees," he commented. He stood before the dark forest of trees that covered the whole of what they could see. Something must have caught Zwei's attention, since he barked and ran off into the shrubbery without warning. Yang yelled after him, but she trusted Zwei would be fine until he came back. He was probably just finding a spot to do his business. Even if he runs into trouble, though, he would be able to handle himself.

Still, Yang followed after Zwei and entered the shade of trees. While they weren't beaten by the rain so hard under them, it wasn't any better than standing in a puddle. They needed shelter, unless they wanted pneumonia - or worse: a run-in with some grimm. It was calm for now, but it was the perfect atmosphere for them, and Yang was sure there were some in the area already. Yang was about to speak up about this concern, but Mercury started walking deeper in the shadowy woods. She picked up her feet and began after him. Under the leafy canopy, all was silent aside for the rumble of thunder and the constant tapping of droplets against plant or ground.

"So you want to start talking now?" she asked rhetorically.

"Hmm… Not really," he said.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to ask," she started sweetly, "Start talking."

"How cute," he laughed, "Alright. About what?"

Mercury didn't hesitate to push all of Yang's buttons. It was amusing for him to see her getting so worked up. Yang, on the other hand, was trying to keep herself from lashing out and decking him in the face again. Her eyes blinked red for a moment as she quelled her rage. Thinking about it, she couldn't take him in a fight right now. He already proved that. She sighed and asked:

"First, where are we? I thought we were headed to Patch," she asked, "but I don't recognize this place."

"Well this is it. I guess we're just on the other side of it. I wasn't exactly specific when I was looking for someone to take us," he offered as an explanation. He nodded his head back, motioning towards the person who piloted the boat there.

Yang hadn't noticed them following along behind the two of them. Still, she had no idea who this person was, but the more glances she took towards them, the more they looked familiar. It wasn't clear whether they were a boy or a girl, but they looked young, or at least around Yang's age given how short they were. They wore dark clothes and a hat that covered most of their jet black hair. Yang stopped looking back at them when she almost tripped over a tree root, earning a laugh from Mercury.

"So who _is_ that?" she asked him, "Feels like I've seen them before."

"Isn't there someone else you want to ask about?" he reminded her.

"Wh- Yeah! Tell me where Ruby is!" she ordered.

"Right. She's in a bit of a… sticky situation," he started.

"Then you better tell me where she is _now_!" she yelled.

` "Alright, alright. Just quiet down before-"

A snarl roared from the green of the forest, putting them both on alert. The mess of trees and all of the shadows cast were disorienting as they searched for the source. It came again, closer now. A beowolf burst from the bushes, lashing out at Yang. She jumped back away from its claws and ready her fists to counter, lunging towards it. Only her left arm was bare. Yang had forgotten about her 'encounter' with Mercury after she met Junior. Of course, she had _tried_ to forget about all that, since she still got furious thinking about what he did.

The beowolf swatted her away in her moment of disarray. She flew back into a tree and fell to the ground on her knees. It ran towards her, going in for the kill. But it wasn't any match for her. She unleashed all of her rage that she had bottled up while dealing with Mercury, and coupled with the fact that she was just thrown into a tree, her eyes were blood red. With her Ember Celica on her right hand, she shot the beowolf away through a tree until it faded into a shadow upon its death. But where there's one, more are lurking. Two more jumped out and took the first one's place. Yang beat away at them all the same, as though she had her full loadout. Lost in her rage, she completely disregarded Mercury and the other person with him.

She threw blow after blow into both of them, giving them seldom any time to react. To finish them off she knocked one into the other, knocking one against a tree and the other dazed on its feet. One last uppercut ended it and it landed behind her, not getting up again. The other one began to get up, but she mercilessly struck it on the ground. No one messes with Yang when she's angry. But while she was still focused solely on finishing that beowolf, a straggler came behind her. Yang had no time to react to it. She only had a moment to look back and see Mercury repel it with a kick right to the head.

"As I was _saying_ , quiet down before you get any 'unwanted attention'. But uh…" he looked around at the carnage left over from her fury, "Yeah, I guess that's fine."

She blinked a few times, bringer herself back to reality and bringing the purple of her eyes back. What just happened? Mercury had just saved her. Yang looked at him and felt her heart pounding painfully in her chest. Why was it beating so fast? She never noticed it like this whenever she fought before. Once more, Mercury started walking ahead of her. Even that other person walked past her as she stood there staring at Mercury, trying to figure this out. Still dazed, she again started walking. Not much farther, they came across some sort of shack. It was covered in vegetation and even had a tree growing through one of the walls.

"Stay here for a while," Mercury told her out of the blue, "Hopefully it'll stop raining soon."

"Fine. Now you can finally tell me everything," said Yang. She had gone numb to the rain a while ago, but it certainly would be best to dry off. When she tried to open the rusty metal door to get under shelter, it creaked but wouldn't budge. Mercury stepped beside her to help.

"Wait, there-"

"What, is there a trick to this too?" she mocked him and tried kicking the door open. She jumped back, holding her foot in pain.

"Yeah, that won't work, blondie…" he teased her back.  
"Well then how do we get in?!" she yelled, upset and embarrassed by her attempt.  
"Kick it _HARDER_ -!" he exclaimed, knocking the door off it's hinges and against the wood wall on the other side. It made a metallic noise like pushing over a metal garbage can, but the sheer weight of it shook the foundations of the flimsy building.  
"Is that your solution to everything?" Yang asked rhetorically. If memory serves, this was also his solution to getting into the place they stayed the night prior.  
"Well…"

"What, no comeback?" she expected more of him.  
"I mean… _Maybe_ …?" Mercury stated weakly, "It's worked so far, hasn't it?"

Yang stepped inside, getting a first look of the damage time wrought inside. It wasn't a pretty sight from the outside, but inside the whole place just looked unsafe. She looked back outside towards Mercury, wondering why he wasn't getting out of the rain.

"What are you waiting for?" she asked.

"Actually…" he started, " Me and my friend here have a bit of a meeting to attend."

"What are you talking about? We're in the middle of a forest on an island," Yang was confused by his sudden change of plans.

"Whatever, just be good and wait here," he ordered, as he walked with the other person out of sight of her.

"Hang on! You're not going anywhere until you-" she darted after them only to find herself alone. She whipped her head from side to side, trying to see where Mercury had gone off to, but he was gone. Angry, confused, and alone, she went back in the decrepit shack and sat against the aged wall. For some reason, she felt drained. She had been hiking through the woods for a while, and along with that she fought off several beowolves after sitting on a boat for however long that was. She crossed her arms and closed her eyes, allowing herself to fall half-asleep, lulled by the distant rumble of thunder and the pitter patter of rain dancing against the roof.

Her eyes shot open when she realized she had fallen asleep. Had Mercury gotten back yet? She stood up and moved to the hole in the wall where the door once was. The rain was still pouring down, but the sun had set long ago, leaving everything cold and wet. Through the ambient storming, she heard the shuffling sound of someone coming. Yang leaned against the wall by the doorway, waiting for Mercury to come inside, hoping to surprise him. When he got in, though, he had someone else in tow behind him. She looked in disbelief as the man stood before her, holding something in his arms. Her eyes fixated on him. There was no denying he was Torchwick. Yang had many questions she needed answered such as why and how he was here and where Mercury had gone. But she was speechless when she saw him gently place what he was holding. It wasn't 'what' he was holding, but 'who'. It was Ruby. It was was her baby sister. She was there, right in front of her. Yang was overjoyed. At the same time, though, she was enraged by the sight of Torchwick holding her baby sister.

"What's going on!?" shouted Yang, "Tell me, _NOW_!"


	15. Chapter 15

Things were progressing perfectly. Cinder had the strongest army under her thumb, the entire criminal network at her fingertips, and unstoppable power nigh in her grasp. Tonight will be the deciding factor to her plans. Regardless of the outcome, though, she _will_ get what she wants. It must be fate that- no, fate has no say over her any longer. It's not fate, but destiny that wills her to stand above everyone else. When she got her first taste of a maiden's power, she knew she had to have it all, or even more than that. Though, incomplete as she was, that emptiness was a welcome feeling. It's a driving sensation, hunger. The world becomes inadequate. Now, she's so close to filling that void, and overcoming it, embracing it even. Cinder can't wait to sit atop the world, laughing down at it as the weak grovel at her feet.

She's close, but the end is still out of reach. That's why she's biding her precious time, waiting the others to join her. The first person to join isn't even appearing in person. Instead, a video feed projects his visage and voice, allowing him to hear and be heard . He couldn't travel here in person. Doing so would draw attention, both to Cinder and to himself. A man in such a position as his brings a lot of attention, so taking an airship off anywhere without telling the destination would only serve to bring questions and investigation. Still, he's managed to keep up his end of the bargain, manipulating things unseen to make Cinder's plans run that much smoother.

"It would seem you're the first to arrive," Cinder says.

"It helps to be punctual," he says proudly, "Unlike your band of terrorist and thieves."

She ignored him, as she won't deny the nature of her underlings, since they _were_ thieves and terrorists. But now she had another trope to add to the collection: a general. The man she was speaking to was none other than Atlas' James Ironwood. Being at the top of the food chain at Atlas, he was privy to 'sensitive' documents to say the least. Sure, she could have managed finding such things out other ways, but since the opportunity presented itself, why not take the easy high road? Her partnership with Ironwood has already helped Roman with his public 'stunt' of being arrested. If the door wasn't practically opened for him, there was no way he'd be walking free without a war waged… not that Cinder hasn't been willing to send an army. And here the man comes, second to join her committee meeting. He took a seat across from Cinder.

"I see you're doing well, Roman," the general greeted him.

"Just peachy, thanks," he swiftly replied.

"I assume my ship is still in good condition?" Ironwood asked Roman, who's staying silent, "Well? If you crashed it on a joyride, I swear I-"

"You wouldn't do anything, general. _Isn't that right_?" Cinder hushed Ironwood.

Any infighting would hinder her progress, and she would have none of that. Ironwood swung his head to face her, elegant and calm, yet now frowning at him. His shoulders relaxed and he sunk down into his seat he had beyond the screen. He knew not to get on her bad side, and backed away with his tail between his legs like a puppy. Roman, on the other hand, either didn't care to worry about her wrath or was too confident to. He made an exaggerated laughing motion and pointed childishly at Ironwood's concession. He scowled after he caught a glance. Thinking back, it was a miracle the general was compliant enough to assist the man.

"Did I miss something funny?" Mercury asked, walking in with Neo alongside him.

"Nah, just the usual," said Emerald, who had already arrived in the middle of it.

Mercury shrugged and took his position along with Emerald with Neo still in tow. With them, everyone was accounted for, and it was time for their meeting to hold its purpose. Cinder wanted every one of them, her 'agents' she'd call them if she had to give labels, to be on the same page; as of late their agenda has been adjusted for the time, cause being the introduction of the girl to her grasp. Cinder begins to explain how Ironwood opened a path for her to 'find' information on a silver eyed huntress-in-training who had gotten Ozpin's attention. Emerald was amazed as Cinder tells of the power Ruby may possess.

"So you're saying when we picked her up she could've..." she sighed, "That would've been good to know beforehand."

"Well, it seems she has yet to ever realize what she can do," Cinder says.

"So you're saying she's still here because of a ' _maybe_ '? Then why-" she cuts Ironwood off mid sentence.

"That is why we're all here right now: in case that 'maybe' doesn't produce results."

"So if-"

" _WHEN-_ " Roman corrected him.

" _IF_ it doesn't work, will we proceed with our original plan?" Ironwood finally got a thought out after being constantly interrupted.

"In short, yes. Of course it's all easier said than done," she explained.

"Why don't we just run in, guns blazing?" Mercury asked more as a joke, but still earned a sigh from Ironwood.

"Really?" Emerald rolled her eyes.

"They will be on guard after our last diversion worked so well," she said.

"Okay, so what? It's still not exactly hard to get by that bunch of idiots," Roman remarked. Ironwood cleared his throat to remind Roman he could hear him.

"We'll get to that later," she said, "There _are_ still matters to discuss about our current prime 'candidate'."

"What do you mean? It seems pretty cut-and-dry to me," Roman asked.

"As she is now, her power lies dormant. Since nothing so far has changed that, the next step would be to set her off through some sort of trauma," Ironwood picks up Cinder's explanation.

"Ah, right," went Roman as he sunk back in his seat upon hearing what would happen to her. She had already told him vaguely about her 'test' for Ruby later tonight, but the specifics sure didn't make the thought set well with him. He made sure to make his reaction show as little as possible, but maybe his facade of confidence was waning in his worrying. Mercury may have been the only one to realize at least. And Neo of course, but she wasn't about to squeal about it.

"And how do we go about that?" It was Emerald's turn to ask questions.

"Is that why you-" Mercury suddenly realized what Cinder had in mind.

"Yes, we'll be having one more join us for tonight's event," she confirmed his suspicions.

"Great, let's make it a party," Roman attempted sarcasm, still burdened with the thought of Ruby.

"Unfortunately, she won't be staying long. For you see, she'll be the one to awaken the girl's powers," she smiles as if she's watching her plans fall right into place, "As luck would have it, our second 'guest' is her sister."

"You're gonna kill her in front of the brat, aren't you?" Roman asked distastefully. With how bluntly he said it, Mercury clenched his fist in anger, regret, or some other spark of hate for their causing Yang such anguish.

"In a nutshell. And as soon as she's served her purpose, we'll dispose of Ruby with her," Ironwood said, "If it works, we'll take her power and get rid of her after that, but if it doesn't it'd be too risky to leave her alive."

"And if it doesn't, we'll have a plan B. Now, let's get on that, shall we?" Cinder moved along the discussion.

Neither Roman now Mercury had much to say after realizing the brutality of what they'd be doing. If it was anyone else, they wouldn't have cared at all. It was almost funny how similar their thoughts were afterwards. Mercury felt sorry for Yang. It was because of him that she's being dragged into this. She'll get to see her sister, sure, but only for a moment before they'll never see each other alive again. It's sad, he thinks to himself. He can't bear to imagine her going through that. He'd rather see her laughing smugly at some crummy pun she made. Hey, he'd even like to see her arguing a bit more. Mercury didn't hate going back and forth with her like that, and neither did she, he believed. It was a great way to pass the time. But he didn't _really_ care about her, right?

Roman relived the excruciating moment in front of the door, where she'd be on the other side, ignorant of what is soon to come. She was so innocent; she knew nothing. Ruby didn't know where she was, why she was there, or even who was keeping her there, other than Roman of course. The whole situation started out annoyingly, for him at least, and he doubted she enjoyed any part of it. At first, all she was to him was a thorn in his side. She was the brat that got between him and what he wanted, and now he had her right before him, harmless and defenceless. He could've killed her, he thinks to himself, and he would've. Why didn't he? What stopped him?

The group approaches their conclusion to their discussion. By then, Cinder and Ironwood were really the only ones adding anything substantial, with Roman occasionally chiming in with his usual sarcastic comment. Emerald was never one for planning, and neither was Mercury, so they merely listened in boredly. Neo sat in silence, watching the others, but two in particular. She may have been the only one to notice, but something about them stuck out from the norm. But Cinder didn't notice what Neo did; she was caught up in her own conversation with Ironwood.

"I trust you'll keep an eye on everything at Beacon. We need to know when they're at their weakest," she asked of him.

"Easily. Though, I think Oz might be a bit... difficult," he warned.

"How so?"

"From what I could tell, he's still upset about everything falling apart in his hands. And then there's the situation with not one, but two of his students…" he refers to Ruby and Yang, "I think it'd be best to keep some distance. He trusts no one, and least of all Atlas, considering the incident with the robot."

"He is but one man. And that publicity stunt was necessary," she tells him.

"Necessary for what?! She cost a lot of money!" he shouted, annoyed he had to lose such valuable Atlas property.

"She divided the people and sowed unrest in them. We couldn't have had such an effect without her expense. The people may not trust Atlas, but neither will they trust Ozpin now."

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Emerald had already left. Mercury was walking out of the room and Neo was tugging at Roman's sleeve to get him to move.

"There _is_ … one other concern," Ironwoods starts. Cinder says nothing, expecting him to continue, "Ironically, it's the rest of team RWBY. It seems they're going to be a bit of a problem."

Mercury had gotten halfway down the hall before Roman caught up to him. He didn't look too happy to be talking to him, but then again, he never was.

"Hey, kid!" Roman got his attention before he was within an arm's reach, "Where're you going?"

"I kinda left someone waiting out there," he said.

"In the rain. While it's thundering? Classy," laughed Roman.

"Yep. I'm still soaked from the trip with her," he pats his clothes, still damp.

"You know I'm kinda surprised you were with her the whole time and nothing happened. I mean I can't see you putting up someone for longer than…" he thought for a moment, "Well, at all."

"Hey, look who's talking. I'm surprised your 'captive' is even still alive," Mercury remarked.

"You underestimate me," Roman explained.

"I guess it doesn't matter, though. She won't see tomorrow either way," he ignored Roman's comment.

"Yeah, well, same for the blonde, her sister," he said, "And it's all thanks to you."

Something Mercury said touched a nerve, so he dished it right back to him. The result was a frown and a heavy sigh from him. Roman felt like sighing himself, but he had an image to retain. He couldn't be showing weakness right now, especially not for Ruby. Mercury was more open about it.

"I-" he stopped himself, "Don't say it like that."  
"And why not?" he asked, "It's the truth, isn't it?"

"Maybe," he took a deep breath. Another heavy sigh, "Look, this just doesn't seem right to you, does it?"

"Am I hearing you right?" Roman feigned astonishment. Really, he agreed. It didn't feel right to just throw her to the curb like this. He wanted anything but that. Already, he'd lost sleep thinking about it.

"Alright. You know what. Whatever," he turned away, "Forget I said anything."

"Hold up. I…" Roman started, "You're not _wrong_ …"

"Oh, yeah?" said Mercury, disbelieving and still ticked off.

"Look, I think we can both agree we don't want anyone to… We want them alive, right?" Mercury nodded, "But Cinder doesn't."

"So what can we do?" Mercury asked.

" _Well_ …" Roman looked away, glancing back at Neo who had now caught up with him, "There may or may not be something we could do…"


	16. Chapter 16

She drifts into reality again with a splitting headache and dizziness swarming her. No matter what she tried to do, her body wouldn't move itself for her. Feeling hangs within reach of her as she senses her head against something. Eyes open to dim light. Drowsily she rolls her sight around, then up to what - or who - she was on. It was a man. He didn't seem to be moving. Comfort overwrote concern in that moment, as she still was overcome with fatigue. But before she could lull herself to rest, she felt movement beneath her head.

"If you drool on me, you're paying for cleaning," came a groan of a voice, as though someone was just shaken awake early in the morning.

She could only look up at him with a sidelong glance. Her eyes closed every time her vision began to focus. When she beat back the tired feeling that weighed them down, she forced them shut in the flash of pain in the back of her head.

"I'm not your pillow for naptime, Red. What are you doing?" that mocking tone was certainly familiar.

"What're... _you_... doing," she could only just get out a mumbled response.

"Losing feeling in my arm. Get up," he ordered.

She tried to move, but could only manage to fall onto what she assumed to be his chest. His heart beat slow, but strong.

"That's... not exactly better," he said.

She felt the low vibration of his voice rumbling against her ear.

"Just a few more minutes..." she wanted to fall back into sleep as her strength stood just out of her grasp.

"Minutes…. or days, like last time?" There was a sudden but drastic change to his tone.

"Hwuh? What are you talking about?" she asked.

"You don't remember? Then how about a story before bedtime, Red," Roman offered, "All you have to do is stay awake."

The duo walked the length of the hall with hushed voices. There shouldn't be anyone near them on this floor, but still they were cautious.

"Your jokes have been horrible lately," Mercury remarked, having listened to Roman's schemes.

"Come on, this could really work!" he said in defence.

"Alright. Say everything goes according to plan. Then what?" he asked.

"Er… We'll cross that bridge when we get there," Roman evaded.

"And here I thought all you did was burn bridges!"

"Two completely different things, kid," he claimed.

They neared the end of the hall and Roman fumbled around in his pocket. Mercury stood by him, watching where they had just came from in case someone was there and had heard. Or worse: in case they were followed. While he couldn't picture Cinder herself confronting them, he could imagine Emerald slowly approaching full of contempt from their betrayal. But with Emerald, you wouldn't even know she was coming. He wanted to get behind closed doors soon.

" _Of course_ ," he said sarcastically, partially to take his mind off of the daring thought, "Is she in there?"

By then, Roman had unlocked the door and had a hand on the knob. He exhaled lightly before he pushed the door open.

"Oh, she'd better be," he warned before he poked out from behind the door and into the room.

"Uh, what?" the girl asked, unaware.

She had been sitting on the edge of the cot, swinging her legs impatiently. Maybe she'd heard them from down the hall and waited for them to open the door to do whatever they came in for.

"Knock, knock, Red."

"What up?" she said, then stood suddenly in shock when she saw Mercury coming through the doors. She inched toward Roman to ask, "What is _he_ doing here?!"

She gestured toward Mercury as he took his place beside him in the room. Ruby expected Roman to be with Neo, but this was a surprise. And not a good one at that; just seeing him reminded her of the disaster at the Vytal Festival. The meter distance between them wasn't nearly enough. He started to pace around her.

"Hey, don't be rude now," Roman said as though talking to a child.

"But he _kicked_ me!" Ruby brought up a fair point.

"Of course he did!" he explained, "But forget about him. We've got places to be, you and me both."

"Where exactly are we going?" she asked hesitantly.

"I… can't tell you that," he evaded her question.

"If you won't tell me, then I'm not going!" perhaps she'd gotten comfortable dealing with Roman and put her foot down.

"Aw, come on, Red," Roman tried, "Just come along easily."

The first phase of Roman's scheme was to set things up exactly how Cinder wanted. He'll have Ruby before her, and Mercury will supposedly have Yang on the way. Everything will be according to Cinder's grand plan. But first he needs the girl to get going. He grabbed her by the arm and tugged her to the door. She resisted, oblivious to the fact that he held no ill intent.

"Let go of me!" yelled Ruby, pulling away from him.

"We _can_ do this the hard way," Mercury chimed in.

Without her realizing, he snuck up behind her. She'd been too focused on Roman to pay attention to him. When he spoke, she turned to face him. Compared to Roman, Mercury was far less intimidating. That may have been due to the fact that she still saw him as a classmate, or because Roman had held her under lock and key. Perhaps there was something to fear from him, as her recollection of their exchange cut off from then.

"What happened after that?" asked Ruby.

She had mostly listened to him while he recited everything that had happened. It was difficult resisting the urge to rest, but the more he told her, the more she remembered what had happened.

"Well…" Roman thought for a moment about how to say it, "He kicked you."

"Again!?" she groaned.

"Yeah," chuckled Roman, "It's what he does. But don't worry, I caught you. Then he shrugged and said 'problem solved'... which I guess wasn't _untrue_ …"

"Hey!" Ruby complained, but Roman was about to continue.

Roman split up from Mercury coming off the lift to another floor. Phase two was to have him waiting until things got rough, though hopefully it shouldn't get too violent. So Mercury hung around behind the brushline of the woods in the safety of the outside storm. He certainly complained that he'd be standing out in rain and thunder, but Roman ignored him. After all, it wasn't _him_ that would get soaked and possibly struck by lightning. Now that he thinks about it, though, that may have been a mistake. The kid's practically a lightning rod, he thought to himself.

But he carried on, carrying the girl's lifeless body slung over his shoulder. She had once again worn her frilly skirt and was clad in red and black. The wardrobe change was left for her when she was alone, courtesy of… someone he didn't bother to know. Her arms were bound behind her and her mouth was taped so she wouldn't be able to make a sound, something that would facilitate his plan later on. He didn't _want_ to deal with her this way, carrying her to and fro without her consent; he wanted her to come willingly, knowing that he wanted to help her, that he _cared_ about her… though his word choice would be a bit different. He figured he'd call it that, though, in his mind: "care". He cared about her, he won't deny the fact to himself. To others, he still had to be the cold villain he held his facade to be. There were no such feelings of care and love for the villain, yet his feelings were genuine. And so he'd go to such lengths for her. She was a reason for him to change, and the opportunity conveniently arose for him to do so. Perhaps this was a means to an end where he didn't have to act to survive.

Neo stalled in front of the door, waiting for Roman. He entered, and she followed suit, her eyes fixated on the girl before her hanging from the man's shoulder. They took their stance halfway through the room before Cinder, with Emerald beside her. Silence held in the air while Roman waited gravely, biding his time before disaster could occur. Cinder said nothing as she could not let her determination waver, even if success was so very close. Emerald, being as hard to read as ever, seemed not at all fazed by the seriousness before her. Finally, impatience cracked Cinder's confidence.

"Where _is_ he?" her anger bore like fangs.

"He'll be here soon," Roman was hesitant to say, "It's like catching a live grimm. It's not exactly easy."

"Fine. We'll just have to start without them. It makes no difference," she said, trying to keep her controlling composure, "Set her on the ground. And you don't have to worry about hurting her. We'll be doing plenty of that."

Roman wouldn't even allow himself a moment's hesitation here. They needed to believe his act, now more than ever. He dropped her onto the ground, not at all gently, though he tried all he could not to be too rough with her without revealing himself. The girl barely stirred as she lay on the cold, hard surface. Cinder readied herself with that mysterious white glove, set to sap away her captive's life and strength.

"Be a dear and hold her up, now," she once again felt dominant.

As though she sensed the glove's presence, Ruby tossed from her unconscious state, disoriented and confused. Roman picked her up onto her feet, though he still held her weight up to keep her steady and immobilized. He pressed his thumb into her neck to wake her fully. She winced in pain. Her eyes darted around the room, surveying her surroundings in an attempt to figure out where she was. Ruby wanted to ask, but she couldn't move her mouth to form the words. She struggled to move as well, soon finding that she couldn't do that either. A feeling of weakness and powerlessness overcame her, along with one last desperate try at breaking free. It was futile, she realized. When she was done struggling, she watched Cinder step towards her gracefully and maliciously.

"Have you finally realized how useless it is for you to resist me?" she asked, knowing that Ruby wouldn't be able to respond. She talked slowly, "All your suffering will end when you give me what I want."

Cinder placed her hand on Ruby's forehead. It felt like an indescribable torture, only comparable to saying her mind was being ripped open. She couldn't bear to breathe as she was again haunted by the sensations of suffocation, along with knowing that she wouldn't be able to make a sound regardless. The feeling subsided as Cinder pulled her hand away, judging her reaction to show promise. Ruby's eyes watered and shed a tear as she was reminded all too vividly of the horrible sensations she suffered the last time she met Cinder.

Roman tried not to react as Ruby struggled. It tore at his heart to see her going through this torment. He looked to his side towards Neo. She showed no emotion on her face. He was grateful that she was there. It would be impossible for him to do any of this alone. She winked at him, signaling the next step in his master plan.

Walking back from her victim, Cinder nodded to Emerald to give her the go-ahead.

"Just don't kill her yet," were her orders.

Emerald reached for her weapon to use on the innocent Ruby. She watched them flip into the sickle-like blades. She looked from the razor edge of it up toward the girl, ready to inflict pain. One step forward she took in anticipation to let loose all of her hate, followed by another. But she stopped then. Something wasn't right. She transformed her sickle and shot at the wall behind them, but all before them looked like a mirror cracking apart, like shattered glass. Behind the reflection was emptiness where the other three used to be. It became obvious to her what had happened: they were gone. She and Cinder were left to seethe with rage

"And that just about explains up to this point. Did you-" Roman relayed to Ruby, "Oh,don't tell me you fell asleep halfway through."

"Wh- No! No, I'm just… resting my eyes. I heard you," Ruby claimed, "Wait. You didn't say how we both ended up like this."

"Right. Well. I was carrying you in here, when all of a sudden some blonde came over and threw a tantrum. The kid- Mercury tried to calm her down. Then she asked something about you being unconscious. So I said to her 'I didn't do anything, it was just time for your nap'." Roman tells her, as she lies with her head on his lap.

"Ugh, I'm not a kid!" she groan in complaint.

"Yeah, well, she kinda punched me in the face. Knocked me into the wall, and knocked me out, too. And after what I did today, maybe I deserved it," Roman says, "From what I last saw, though, Mercury knocked her out too."

"But why am I on top of you?" she asked.

"Gee, you sound so upset about it," he retorted.

"No I-" she tried to correct herself.

Roman patted her head and laughed softly.

"I'm kidding, Red. From what I can tell, you can blame Mercury. I bet he thought it'd get cold, what with the rain we went through," Roman reasoned.

"Can't you move?" questioned Ruby, "You could've gotten up, right?"

"Don't worry about it," he told her, "Now go ahead and get some sleep."


	17. Chapter 17

"Oh! You're here sooner than I thought…" Weiss said as her eyes fell upon Blake when she entered the room. Blake, who would've blended with the night behind her were it not for her fair skin and clothes, sat in the sill of the window. She was soaked from the rain outside and as per the usual with her, she wore her frown as though it was painted on. But she seemed more stressed than usual.

"I was in a hurry," she told, "What was _that_ all about?" She motioned with her scroll.

"Oh, uh…. Cat jokes…." she said almost inaudibly.

"Really?" Blake did not look amused.

"Is it that bad?" Weiss asked rhetorically.

"About as much calling you just another Schnee," she said bitterly. She didn't look as tense as she was before, at least. Maybe Blake was relieved to see Weiss again, as much as Weiss was glad to talk to Blake.

"Hey! I-" Weiss interjected but was cut off by Blake.

"Whatever. Look, something… happened," she began. Weiss perked up to listen, "I was coming back to the dorm room, and everything was fine until I opened the door…"

"So what happened?" Weiss asked curiously.

"When I was about to go inside… the dog jumped out at me," she said nervously.

"You mean Zwei?" Weiss asked the obvious. As blake nodded, she added "You really need to get over your fear of dogs. But anyway, what's the problem?"

"He just kinda took off," explained Blake, "And I wasn't about to chase after him."

"Is that why you rushed to come over?" Weiss asked, "You're overreacting, Blake."

"No I'm not! What if something happens to him? What are we going to tell Yang?" Blake sounded upset. Both anger and sadness rose in her voice. There was a pause between them for a moment before Weiss spoke.

"Zwei is literally the most durable dog I know. He was on fire that one time, too!" Weiss explains with a laugh.

"Yeah, that was insane, you're right…" Blake let out a chuckle a well.

At last the air between them lost its tension and they laughed together again. It was reassuring for both of them; it was one of the first times since everything fell apart that any of team RWBY felt anything other than hopelessness. She was the first person Weiss even talked to since she left Beacon to go home, and at the dorm Blake was never up for talking, though Yang certainly took a hit as well. Finally they could forget about the world going downhill around them, the ground breaking beneath their feet.

The two light-heartedly talked for another while about all the nothings that happened around them in each other's absence. Weiss was at long last able to explain why she practically abandoned them without notice: of her father's over-protective demands, her sister's burdening, and finally she got to the topic of the conversation she overheard. Blake listened intently, and when Weiss was through with her breathless recounting, she told her about when she talked to Yang. She couldn't get very far into her part, though, as soon enough there came a knock at the door and a voice with it.

"Weiss? Are you talking with someone?" It was Winter.

"I'm on my scroll," was Weiss's reply, a lie.

She motioned to Blake, telling her either to leave or to hide. She couldn't tell which it was. Her solution was to vault through the window and hang from the edge. The door opened just as she ducked below sight. Blake hoped she wouldn't have to hang on long.

"I thought you'd like some company," Winter said, coming through the door.

"Are you sure you didn't come to tell me I need more practice. Or are you going to coax me into Atlas again?" she asked bitingly.

"Relax, you're free for now," answered Winter, "Although it would be great if you changed your mind…"

"Just leave me alone, I don't want to hear it."

Winter sighed. "If you're going to be like that, then fine," she looked upset.

And just as soon as she came in, she left. It was a short exchange, sure, but every one like it taxed Weiss of anything other than annoyance. When she was alone, she let out a long, heavy sigh too. How long had she practiced, and yet it still wasn't good enough? Such a short time and yet she already let go of the happiness she found when Blake got here. That's right, she thought, Blake! In the last second she saw her jump through the window. Was she alright? She peered over the ledge and saw nothing but the dark rainy night surrounding the frame of the window. Her eyes adjusted to the dark soon enough, and there was Blake standing on the ground below her, beckoning her to come down as well. Weiss landed gracefully beside her.

"You need to see this," Blake told her.

"Not here," said Weiss, "I'm not sure how you got in, but there are men patrolling the grounds. If they see us, Winter will kill me."

"Then how about we go here," she held her scroll out to display an address along with a picture of wherever it's supposed to be.

"Where is that?"

"I don't know. I just got a random message with this," explained Blake.

From just the address, Weiss could tell it was in the downtown area of the city. It certainly wasn't a place either of them would go without reason, but something stuck out to her. Something was off about how Blake got a sudden message leaving breadcrumb trails leading downtown where those who can't show their face in daylight walk free at night.

"That's not too far from Beacon," Weiss noted, "Do you think… Could this have something to with where Yang went?"

Blake perked up at the notion. Perhaps it was just a small spark of hope in her eyes, but she looked alive, or at least more than usual and not a zombie.

"Let's check it out!"

"We really shouldn't…" Weiss began to complain, but Blake had already started off.

Cold and soaked to the bone, the pair eventually reached the address anonymously sent to them. At first they looked from afar, noting how empty it was compared to the busy streets it sat on. This was definitely the place, it matched everything they were given. In time, they resolved to throw caution to the wind and go right in, assuming no one would stop them. Now with shelter from the rain, Blake took the lead in heading down the bleak and narrow hall. She had experience the whole infiltrating business before, and Weiss would be at a loss of how to go about it. A door was what they met after the length along with two guys standing before it, idling by with conversation. Blake approached them with Weiss following behind her. The two men didn't stop talking when they got close enough to eavesdrop.

"What do we do if it happens again?" one asks.

"What _can_ we do? Get the boss," the other answers.

"Good point," says the first, "Hey, who're they?"

He took one look towards the duo and nudged his partner.

"Get the boss," he said panicked.

He slipped through the door and ran off. He came back one a few moments later with a much taller man wearing a similar suit to them. Halfway through the door he asked:

"So is it the blonde or her boyfriend?"

"Uhm… No…?" he replied.

"What do you mean 'no'," asked the man angrily. He looked toward Blake and Weiss, "Ah. Right, who are you? Don't you know we're closed?"

"We just want some information," Blake said casually.

"Yeah, who're _you_?" Weiss chimed in awkwardly.

"If you're here for information, you should already know how I am," he said proudly, "Now answer my question."

Blake brushed him off, saying it didn't matter, and Weiss introduced herself full and proper.

"A Schnee!? Haven't I -" he stopped himself then began again in a much different tone, "What do you want now?"

"You were talking about some blonder earlier," said Blake, "Care to specify who that was?"

"Who are you to her? And what do I get out of telling you?" asked the man.

"She's a friend of ours," explained Weiss.

"What do you want?" Blake asked coldly.

He looked at Weiss and told them: "A favor. Just remember it."

The man officially introduced himself to be Junior, the owner of the Club. He started to walk back inside and waved them to follow him. Past the cold metal doors, there wasn't much of a party to be seen then. There weren't anyone dancing or even any music playing. No one was there aside for the men in suits, presumably his goons or staff. He explained his story to them about the blonde. One night, she came in ordering him around for some information about someone he'd never seen before. When she didn't get what she wanted, she tore up the place, although he may have only fueled the fire. But that was a while ago. More recently, she came in again, though this time she was like a different person.

He described her to them: tired, depressed, and exhausted. She looked as though she had walked all across the world to learn it was for nothing. Like last time, she help up a picture and asked if he knew them. It was a different person this time, younger and closer to her age, so he still drew a blank. Instead of getting angry this time, she was sad. So he got her to talk, and it turns out it was her sister that she was looking for.

"Sound familiar?" he asked midway through his tale.

"That has to be Yang," stated Weiss.

"Great," he had meant his question to be rhetorical, but that works too, "Anyways, right when she was cheering up, some guy came up to her. Maybe he was an ex or something, but when he started talking, she got real mad. And… well that's why this place is a mess."

"Hang on, who was she with?" Blake asked.

"Yeah, can you give us a name?" added Weiss.

"You know, I didn't think to ask, given the fact that they were _trying to kill each other_!" Junior stressed.

He went on to explain that the place was swarming with soldiers, not just cops, and the 'culprits' hid while he brushed the whole thing off as a bar fight. After that, he kicked them out. Pretty much the next day, though, she was here again. Something big had happened, he could figure that much out, and she was looking for a way to get somewhere.

"Where was she headed?"

"Somewhere across the water," he told them, "What was it? Pretty sure she said she lived there or something."

"She's going to Patch?" Blake asked herself more than him.

"That makes sense," Weiss said, "It's separated by water and it's not like there're many people to see her there."

Blake and Weiss had a lead now. It wasn't much to go on, but now they knew where Yang was headed. They thanked Junior for his help and left through the same hall they came through. Thunder rumbled from outside and the narrow walls around them shook. Through one last door, they'd be back on the street under the pelting rain. They still didn't know how they'd get to Patch or if they'd even find Yang there. Not an uneventful night for sure, but it'd be nice if they had more to go off of, or better yet if they just caught up with Yang right then.

Neither of them knew who she was with either. Yang didn't know any guys who would make her that mad, let alone cause her to start throwing punches… unless it was about Ruby. Maybe she had found some clue as to where she was, of even just if she was okay. Was that why Yang was acting so rashly?

With as many more questions as answers, they left their shelter and traversed the cold, dark night. Before them as they stepped out the door were several Atlas soldiers, armed and cautious. One stepped forward.

"What were you doing in there?" they asked.

"I'm sorry, it turns out we had the wrong place," Weiss stepped forward and answered for the both of them, "Is there some reason for this?"

"Ms. Schnee!" the Atlas soldier recognized her, "Shouldn't you be at home with your sister?"

"I'd like to hear from the one in charge," she said, "You'll take us to them, won't you?"

"Uh… Certainly. I'm sure the General has some business with you as well," they said, motioning the other men to lower their guards and escort them to General Ironwood.


	18. Chapter 18

_**(This part you can ignore C; )**_

 _ **Hey guys. How's it hangin'? I hope the change in seasons has been easy on you. Major apologies on the time it took to get this out. I guess I ended up taking a bit of an unintended break. Things have been… uhm… tough, to force a word onto it. Honestly, I intended to get this out rather soon comparatively. Heh. That didn't happen, sorry. Ah, well. Here it is.**_

* * *

It's night. The rain has seldom wavered from its deluge over them. Upon the roof above, it created a rolling sound, almost similar to waves crashing against a beach or the wind howling through the windows on a stormy day. All would have been perfect for a peaceful night's sleep… but the situation offered no leeway for rest. This being the only thing on his mind, Roman paced about the length of the creaky wood floor until Mercury was convinced he was about to press the groan out of the wood. Watching him from by the doorframe, Mercury leant boredly beside Yang, who was still under from what happened before. He crossed his arms, sick of watching the man go back and forth, mumbling and swearing under his breath. About three hours ago he had already seen all there was to see, and he'd been waiting there for less than that.

The walls had a uniform 'rotting wood' appeal to them, and the corner of the room where the roof had given away was already puddled from the rain. Outside was all the same undergrowth and overgrowth of the woods you might expect anywhere else. The storm bellowed with thunder echoing throughout the room, lightning flashed a glimpse of the forested coastline through the gaps between the trees. The path they took, which was barely noticeable at all at the time, had now turned into a mere mess of mud with the downpour; they were lucky not to have a flooded shelter as well.

Roman hadn't been able to sit still the whole time. He had tried, sure, but never with the peace of mind to be in the same spot for ten minutes. Meanwhile, the two girls had done only that; they hadn't moved an inch if not to breathe. But that's not true, Mercury told himself, there was that one time when Yang shifted a bit. She gave the slightest sign of waking, but when he nudged her with his knee, to the point where she almost fell over, she was still. This scene remained constant, and he hated it, bored from the inactivity. He gave some thought as to a way to do _something_.

"Where's Neo?" he remembered.

"Ah. She's outside," Roman responded, holding his step in front of the door, "With that dog or something."

Roman nodded his head to the side and appeared to be looking through the frame of the door in search of her. She was nowhere to be seen from where Mercury stood, but ultimately it didn't matter either way to him. At least the dog wouldn't be all over him again. But he continued to look out into the rain as well.

"What made her go out in _this_?" Mercury spread his arms, noting the storm.

"She _has_ an umbrella you know. Then again, it may be better at cutting someone than keeping her dry." Roman said comically.

He stopped in his tracks of constant here to there and stepped instead beside Ruby, who was still asleep right where he had left her. She had her hood hung over her head, acting like a blanket as well, and she was cradled into a ball with Roman's hat stuffed with his gloves as a pillow against the wall. Roman crouched down at her side, near enough to hear her light, feathery breath.

"Think she's dead yet?" Mercury had intended to make it sound like a joke, but his mood offered little tone for it, "...I mean…"

"You'd better hope she isn't," replied Roman, "but, no. She's fine."

"Huh," he grunts, "And why's that?"

"Whatever. I said she's fine. She's breathing. Should I check for a pulse too?" he asked, rhetorically and patronizingly.

Roman looked back his way, and saw that Mercury's attention was stuck on Yang. Finally, he noticed too that she was up and at them already. Her eyes were opened hazily, but fiery and full of life. She propped herself up using the wall, and unsteadily faced Roman, holding a hand against the back of her head. Mercury didn't exactly hold back much when he put her out. Though, to be fair, neither did she in her outburst. Roman was still sore from it.

"Ruby!" she saw the girl on the ground beside a criminal, "Are you- Is she- Tell me why she's like that!"

"She's a keeper, clearly," he mutters aside to Mercury, who rolls his eyes back to Yang. Roman stares back at her, confidently, and pats Ruby's head exaggeratedly. He says to her slowly, "Or else what?"

" _Or_ I can put you back to sleep!" she threatened, seething from his show of haughtiness.

"I feel like that's a threat _I_ would be making to _you_ right about now. Or something along those lines," Roman stood his ground. He wasn't interested in bickering with her so much as he was with forgetting the situation he was in.

Had Mercury not grabbed her arm, she would've lashed out at him, effectively setting past events to repeat until he was put in his place or she had a bad enough concussion not to get up. Either way, nobody would win from that exchange and they'd end up doing each other in before Cinder does it for them. Realizing this, Mercury stepped between them.

"But you won't," he told Roman.

"Well I _could_ …" weighing the idea, "I mean, let's face it. She's-"

"She's what? Expendable? If you're gonna act like them, why don't you just kill her as well," he gestured towards Ruby, "Then you can march right back up there and they'll do you in for that stunt of yours. "

"Touch her and you won't need to go anywhere for that," she threatened. Yang's overprotective nature was drawn out with just the idea of her little sister being in danger, her eyes glowing red with rage. Justly concerned, Roman took a step back and said laughed nervously.

"Eheh… Relax, it was just a joke. Haven't killed anyone yet, why start now?" he tried to act innocent of his reputation.

"Yeah, _somehow_ I'm not convinced," Yang said, on guard.

"No, he actually hasn't killed anyone. Not that I know of at least," Mercury conceded, " _Me_ , on the other hand…"

"I still find it hard to believe you'd try to keep anyone but yourself alive," Yang said.

Hurt by her words, Roman sighed and put his hand to his head. Never had he taken the time to fully explain his life's backstory, and he's finding that it'd be hard to explain just when and why he came to be the infamous criminal. He's kicking himself for it, but he had done a fine job convincing the world of his evil persona.

"Right. Well, believe it or not, I try _very_ hard to keep those around me alive. I mean, who else would? Thanks to a… certain transgression, I was out of the house and on my own for a good part of my younger years," Roman started.

"Was it your old man, too?" Mercury chimed in.

"Yes but no," Roman responded. At their inquisitively annoyed looks, he continued, "Not like yours at least."

Mercury sighed, and rolled his head away to look outside. The onslaught of rain had died down considerably. The sky was still dark with clouds, and the impending shadow of night only added to their loom of darkness.

"Whatever, sounds boring. I'm gonna go look for Ms. Ice Cream out there," he said, leaving the shelter hesitantly before stepping into the marshy earth outside.

"Alright then. Might as well take a seat, kid. It's storytime," said Roman.

He almost added the word 'again', but now of all times, he wouldn't want her to get any wrong ideas, so he stayed silent and sat against the wall near Ruby. Meanwhile, Yang returned to where she had been only a short while before and took a deep breath, or perhaps a drawn-out sigh. She looked back to him again. It still ticked her off seeing him so close to her.

"Why are you still there?" she asked.

"Oh, come on. Does it really matter?" he replied.

"It's concerning… ," Yang wanted him away from her baby sister.

"And you're rude. Now be quiet. Where was I?" he thought for a moment, "As a kid, I was out on the streets. My father took me to the city when he was sick of my mother, then all at once decided he would be the next greatest huntsman or something. He left for weeks on end until he just stopped coming back. Rumor had it, he got himself killed for being careless or something. A great example of our 'heroes', eh? Hence the attitude towards you huntsman and huntresses. But anyways, I couldn't exactly pay for anything on my own, so I starved on the streets with whoever was beside me. A few of us got together, told ourselves we'd act like a family. We all tried to scrounge up enough to live off of, and I just so happened to learn a thing or two about sleight of hand and the like, earning my fill with card tricks and pickpocketing.

"To be honest, it wasn't all so bad. It did actually feel like a home somewhat. Until one day, we took in another kid. There wasn't all that much to say about him; he didn't talk much. This led to that, and eventually there I was, ducking my head and hiding for my life as these uniformed men who shot first and talked later. When they stopped firing, I could hear one of them call to him, that kid. Turns out he sold us out, and I've never really trusted anyone since."

Through the narration, Roman crossed his arms and leaned his head back, lulled by his own voice. He could very well be talking to himself, because why anyone else want to hear a story like this, of someone they barely know or want to. But when he peeked his eyes open, there she was, looking off but still concentrated on his words. It was comforting, almost. He hadn't told anyone all of this, but there was never the right crowd and he didn't exactly try. A sigh broke through the silence of a pause in his speech. Yang glanced back at him.

"And who were they?" she asked, "You know, with the guns?"

"I didn't exactly stop to ask questions. Hey, I'm here _because_ I never got a look at them. Besides, what could I do? I grew up seeing that same thing: hope, hard work, and the inevitable betrayal that'd come from some self-centered narcissist. The one constant, though, was that the one screwing the others over always ended up on top. There was no justice, obviously, but instead a sense of dog-eat-dog and survival of the fittest. I thought, why not be the one taking advantage of people? It'd be hard, sure, and I'd make enemies of those around me. But, hey, I got money in my pocket and a bit of respect from the other backstabbers as well along the way. Mind you, I hated every bit of it. You couldn't talk with anyone, from the heart, I mean. Always saying what the others wanted you to hear, my life became a front for my 'career'. Before I knew it, though, I made a name for myself for being a lucky thief. Well… it wasn't all luck. Trusting no one, leaving nothing to chance, back-up plans, etcetera, etcetera… I didn't let myself get caught, that's all there is. That all just so happened to be what a certain… 'individual' was looking for. Skip the scene a bit, you can fill in some details, and there I was as the figurehead crimelord, the infamous Roman Torchwick."

He spread his hands at the utterance of his name, adding a certain flare to his ego. Dropping his hands, he chuckled at himself, at his habit of narcissism. Yang stood suddenly, not as dazed as before. She felt as though she had been stuffed in a box for the last hour, and stretched her back sorely.

"So? How'd you end up here, and why did he drag _me_ here?" she asked impatiently.

"That's a good-" he paused when he saw her roll her eyes, "That's a story for another time, we'll say. I think I hear your boyfriend coming."

Just as predicted, Mercury made his way through the door, damp from the last of the showering rain. He surveyed the scene: Roman was sitting by Ruby, who was still in the same spot, and Yang was stretching her legs about the room. He took little from this other than the lack of bloodshed he half expected. For once, though, the cat and mouse relationship between them ended up fine without him. Yang only looked his way for a moment.

"Very funny," she said, "but he's not so lucky."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," he laughed. Of course, his usual confidence had taken over, and he showed as much ego as Roman had.

"Which part? The one where I'm funny, or where you're not good enough for her?" Roman poked at his pride.

"Oh, shut up," his voice was full of annoyance, "Anyways, thanks for letting me borrow your scroll, blondie."

She turned to face him, her expression showing that this was news to her. Reluctant to pass his words off as a joke, she searched her pockets for her scroll, finding nothing. Shocked, she looked toward Mercury with contempt.

"Wait, when did you-" she hadn't even known it was missing, "What did you do with it?"

"Hmm, I don't know… What _could_ I have done?" he laughed, holding it for her to see.

Mercury was already out the door when she bolted after him. Maybe he had expected her to do so, and maybe this was all part of a joke. From inside, Roman could hear her yelling after him as the two ran around in the mud. He turned to watch them, remembering how stressed he had been before. But that was only a memory now. He was tired, but not exhausted. A sigh ran with his breath, and he heard Ruby shift behind him.

"Are you awake, Red?" he asked. Suddenly, he felt a weight against his back and two small arms wrap around him, "Wh- Hey! What are you doing?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked softly.

"Tell you what?" he asked, trying to look behind himself.

"What you told her," Ruby sound somewhat sad, "I didn't know you-"

"Hang on, how much did you hear?" he thought for a second, "You could've helped, you know, explain some things."

"I heard most of it…." she said sheepishly.

"Right. Well, if you wouldn't mind convincing your bodyguard out there to cut back on the death-threats, that'd be _great_."

He heard the muffled 'uh-huh' from her.

"Just, uh…Don't tell her what you told Neo." he pleaded.

It was strange how could feel so at ease like this. Lives were on the line, the ones he worked so hard to save. He knew he could do nothing right now; for now, the only thing was to wait. He had never been content with just sitting around aimlessly, but perhaps he was changing.

Outside, he saw Yang and Mercury walking towards him. Neither seemed to harbor hostility anymore. The only violence between them was the punch on the shoulder Yang gave to Mercury, presumably at something he said to get on her nerves. Yang split off from him, her attention drawn to something outside among the soggy grass and rivers of runoff.

Roman went to stretch his legs as well. But before he could get up, Ruby spoke up:

"Hey."

"What?"

"When you talk, I can feel your voice." she said, giggling.

"That's cute, Red," Roman said, and let out a lighthearted chuckle.


End file.
